Heiress of the Stars
by ScorchedOutcast
Summary: Born to two Purebloods, she has no clue of who she really is. When her biological mother reappears in her life after fourteen years she gets the shock of a life time, as well as a new House and brother. Dark!Hermione, Weasley and Dumbledore bashing, possible Dark!Harry
1. chapter 1

The eldest child of Walburga and Orion Black knelt silently before the family tapestry, her fingers brushing over the scorched fabric where her brother's name had once been.

"I hope you're okay Siri…" she muttered quietly to herself before pulling her wand and beginning a complex string of movements, her lilting voice hissing in the silent room. She could hear her mother bustling around downstairs, snapping at Kreacher every once in a while.

The stairs screeched and she froze her wand hovering in front of the tapestry as she risked a glance towards the door, her breath caught in her lungs as her heart lodged itself in her throat and her stomach hit the floor. A few minutes passed before she continued her spell, releasing the breath she had been holding and willing her heart to slow down, she had to finish this before her pregnancy made it impossible to expend this much magic without harming the child.

Fifteen minutes after beginning the spell she sliced her palm open and wiped the blood off on the tapestry. A date appeared next to her birthday and she sighed in relief before casting a Disillusionment Charm on herself and making her way down the stairs and out of the dreary home she had resided in for seventeen years. Glancing around the muggle street with a light sneer of disgust she threw her hood up and Disapparated when she saw that no Muggles were about.

When she landed at the small house had had built for herself she sighed and collapsed on the porch, tears filling her eyes. It was cowardly, what she had done. She was denying her betrothed a chance to raise their child, but she had no wish to listen to her mother rant about how much dishonor she had brought on the Ancient and Noble House of Black for having relations before marriage, even if she had had them with her own fiance.

"Mother would hate you and Lucius would be mortified, I can not subject you or him to that little one." she placed a hand on her still flat stomach and smiled bitterly, a few tears leaking from her silvery grey eyes. She was only two months along but with the war heating up she could not bring herself to put her child in that sort of danger, even though she knew Lucius would do his best to protect her and their child. "The spell will hold until one of us removes it, you will be safe." She stood and walked inside her little cottage, her hand still on her abdomen where her child grew.

~November 1st of 1981~

Pandora hummed softly to the little bundle of joy in her arms as she walked through Hogsmead, her hair and eyes glamoured to be dark brown and hazel. It was early and she had come to the village to pick up some new clothes for her little Phoebe Aurelia.

"Have you heard the news?" An excited wizard asked as she passed by. Her brows furrowed and she stopped to look at the man,

"No, what news?"

"The Dark Lord is dead! Defeated last night when he tried to attack the Potters! Their little one was the only one who survived though, poor tyke." Pandora blinked owlishly as she processed the information.

"I see… thank you for telling me, but I must go." with that she turned and rushed off. She had not expected the war to end in such a way, never did she expect for her Lord to be defeated. Worry and dread filled her heart. What had happened to Lucius? Her brothers and cousins? What was going to happen to her? Would her spell on the tapestry hold? What if it didn't and Sirius came after her? Phoebe would be in danger. She apparrated to her cottage and took a deep breath, her gaze falling to the toddler in her arms, she was getting closer and closer to being two years old and was a brilliant little girl. Phoebe looked exactly like what she had expected the child of a Black and a Malfoy to look like, white blonde hair and stormy grey eyes that often turned near black when the little one threw a tantrum, which was not as often at Pandora expected.

"What are we going to do my little starlight?" she asked softly, staring into her daughter's sleepy storm colored eyes.

"Mama?" she asked sleepily

"Shush little one, you will be fine." Pandora pulled her wand and pressed it lightly to her daughter's temple, "Somnus." she muttered under her breath, her daughter's muscles relaxed as she fell into a deep sleep. She had overpowered the charm to make sure her little one stayed asleep for what was to come. Standing, Pandora cradled Phoebe to her chest and walked inside their home.

A few hours later saw the Pureblood Heiress standing uncomfortably in front of a Muggle orphanage, her still sleeping daughter in a large basket that contained a large-ish wooden box and two notes. One for her daughter and one for whoever ran the orphanage. Casting a silent Notice-Me-Not charm on herself she lightly set her daughter down, her eyes filling with tears.

"I love you little one. One day we will be reunited." She stood and banged harshly on the orphanage door before dashing down the stairs and across the street. There she stood, gazing at the doors until they opened and the matron of the orphanage looked down. Once her daughter was safely within the walls of the orphanage Pandora sighed softly and ducked down an alley so she could return to her house unnoticed.

She took a deep breath to stay herself before stepping off her porch and turning to face the quaint cottage. She would not need anything within the four walls. A few quick Incendios later and the building was completely consumed by flames. Out in the middle of nowhere she had no reason to worry about the fire being put out before it consumed everything. There would be no trace of herself, or her daughter, until it was once again safe for them to reunite. A moment later her human form gave way to a very large magical pit viper and she made her way away from the burning building.

~Five Years Later~

Five years, it had taken her five years to find her little girl again, six months had passed before she had been able to return to the orphanage, six months of finding out that giving her baby up had not been necessary, that her former fiance was now married to her cousin Narcissa and had a bouncing baby boy, Bellatrix and Sirius were in Azkaban, Regulus was dead, and her mother was dead. By that time her daughter had been adopted by a pair of Muggles unable to have their own children. One Imperious curse later and she had the address and names of the Muggles. Dan and Emma Granger were apparently dentists, whatever the hell those were, living in a well to do area just outside of London.

Glamouring herself she summoned the Knight Bus and gave the driver the address. She huffed when they dropped her off at a park just down the street, but that actually worked better for her plans. Once the bus was out of sight she let her human form fall to her Animagus form and quickly made her way down the street, glancing at the house numbers until she found the one she was looking for. She hid herself within the tall grass edging the fence and watched a man, maybe a few years older than herself chase a little girl about six around the yard. The girl, her little Phoebe, was laughing and squealing in delight.

"Hermione! Dan! It's time for dinner!" a woman with similar curly brown hair to the girl's called from the front porch. Pandora couldn't help the loud infuriated hiss that escaped her, drawing the attention of the young child that had run towards the fence to get away from her adoptive father. Pandora lifted her head from the grass as her daughter approached and moved closer.

Hermione collapsed to her knees in front of the pretty snake and reached out the pet it, running her fingers as lightly as her six year old hands could, over the reptile's head.

"Hermione? Love, what have you found?" she could hear her dad approaching her from behind as the snake nuzzled her hand and flicked it's tongue out against the skin of it. She heard her father gasp before her gently touched her shoulder, "Hermione go to your mother. Tell her to call animal control." Hermione pouted but did as her father asked, darting off to her mother as Dan used a large stick to pin the now agitated reptile down.

Thirty minutes later saw Hermione waving at the van that had come to take the snake away. A light pout on her lips, despite being so young the girl felt in some part of her she knew the snake, but that was just odd.

~Another Five Years Later~

Pandora had long since given in to her animal like mind, having given up on escaping from the glass cage the Muggles had put her in when they had torn her away from her daughter, when the boy known as Harry Potter appeared outside her cage and began speaking to her. When the young wizard accidentally vanished the glass to her prison she took the chance escape quickly, stopping to thank the boy before continuing on, hissing a striking at the Muggles around her to make them move away. Her serpentine thoughts had no care for the daughter she once thought about constantly, only for the freedom she had.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry froze as the beam of green light shot towards his godfather, only to stare as a snake, Nagini, threw itself bodily at the man, using it's weight to knock him to the ground. Bellatrix and Harry both stared at the snake in shock as it began to rise up off of the now prone wizard and shifted seamlessly into a witch.

The strange witch sneered at the woman, wand drawn and pointed at her,

"Now now Bella, don't you know it's not nice to attack family?" She purred her teeth bared in a feral smile. Wild inky curls cascaded down her back, framing a pale face with burning grey eyes.

"Pandora?" Three voices echoed around the room, Bellatrix, who was staring at the woman in abject horror, Sirius, who stared up at his sister in utter shock, and Lucius, who looked confused and almost… devastated.

"But you're… you're supposed to be dead! The tapestry! You died sixteen years ago!" Bellatrix shrieked, her eyes wild.

"Surprise."

"Hermione!" Harry's head whipped around as Ron cried out, so did Pandora's. The bushy haired girl collapsed to the floor as Antonin Dolohov advanced on her, his wand trained on the young witch.

"Not my daughter you son of a bitch!" Pandora's voice echoed through the room as a flurry of spells escaped her wand, slamming into the Death Eater, sending him flying into the wall, unconscious and bleeding heavily from wounds caused by the incensed witch. Fury crackled off of the wild haired woman as she spun and leveled her wand on her cousin. "You have two choices Bella, surrender or run. I won't stop you, I don't fight family, no matter how insane." the older woman blinked, her gaze shifting to Sirius and then to Harry before turning and taking off. Pandora was a formidable opponent and she wasn't going to risk getting killed by the woman.

Harry took off after her, rushing past the strange woman to pursue Sirius's would-be murderer. Pandora watched him go with a less than sane smirk on her face before reaching down to help her brother up.

"The tapestry…"

"Blood magic. It doesn't show my daughter either. If you'll excuse me I need to tend to her." she brushed past her brother, who ran after his godson as soon as she let him go, and darted to Hermione's side, only to be stopped by her former fiance, who was gazing at her as though the sight of her physically hurt him.

"Why?"

"I'll explain in a moment, for now you must let me go heal my daughter, _our_ daughter." The Malfoy patriarch blinked at her words, his hand dropping to his side as he watched the woman he loved rush over to the brainy Muggle-born's side.

"Stay away from her!" Ron pointed his wand at the witch approaching his best friend, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

"If one more person steps between me and my daughter while she is injured heads will roll. Get the fuck out of my way boy, I don't care who you are I will kill you if it means I get to my little one quicker." her wand was leveled at the red-head's chest and her eyes gleamed with a fury that only came from a worried mother kept from their child.

"Ron, let her past. Pandora isn't one to make things up, if she says Hermione is her daughter then I don't think she's lying." the ginger glared at Pandora before stepping to the side, keeping his wand trained on the witch as she knelt next to Hermione. Fury filled her chest at the sight of the wound, she pushed it down and focused on healing her girl. Her wand passed over the wound, casting a painless cauterizing charm to stop the bleeding and seal it until they could get her to a hospital.

"We need to get her to Saint Mungos. I can't do anything else." She stood, levitating her daughter as she did. Her eyes fell on her exam fiance and she sighed softly, "Lucius, you need to leave before the Aurors get here."

"The hell he will!"

"Damn the Aurors, I want a bloody explanation!" Moody and Lucius spoke at the same time, earning them both a glare from the witch.

"You'll get an explanation damn it! But I can't give it if you're locked up in Azkaban!"

"Just tell me why."

"Because mother would have killed her for being conceived before marriage."

"I could have protected her! Protected you."

"And when Voldemort fell? What then? You were on trial Lucius! I was not going to put my daughter through that!" the blonde glared at her before his eyes shifted to the unconscious and injured girl floating behind her.

"Why did you let Muggles raise her?" A bitter laugh escaped her and she looked down, shaking her head.

"Let? I didn't let anyone raise her, I made the choice I thought would be best at the time. I was scared and went on the run, it was no way to raise a child, so I gave her up in hopes that she would be given a better life than I could give her. She turned out alright given the circumstances." she didn't feel the need to mention that she had spent five years locked up in a Muggle zoo, or the fact that she had been nearly enslaved by the very Lord Lucius served for the past two years because her Animagus form had been drawn to the Parselmouth.

She brushed past the Malfoy patriarch and made her way to the atrium of the Ministry. Pausing in the doorway she watched as Fudge shook with fear at the realization that Voldemort was truly back. She huffed out a sigh before continuing into the room, her daughter floating behind her. She all but snarled like a cornered animal when the elderly form of Albums Dumbledore halted her on her mission to get her daughter safely to Saint Mungos.

"What are you doing with my student Miss…?"

"Black. My name is Pandora Cassiopeia Black. Lady of the House of Black and I demand you let me by so I can get my daughter to the hospital."

"Miss Black, Hermione Granger is a muggle-born and is under my care until school lets out in June." Pandora's eyes narrowed as she advanced on the elderly wizard,

"Under your care?" she shrieked, "Where was your care when she and five other students rushed into a dangerous situation? Where was your care when she was cursed by a Death Eater? And that's just what has happened in the past five hours! Don't get me started on the past four years. Now get the fuck out of my way!" she leveled her wand at the Headmaster, magic crackling through her hair and in the air around her as her fury finally had an outlet. The elderly wizard held his hands up and moved out of the way, allowing the woman to pass and make her way to the floo fireplaces.

She threw the floo powder into the fireplace, growling her destination before levitating her daughter through and following.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: *gasp* Three chapters in as many days? Could it be true? Yes! Yes it is. This chapter we get to see why Pandora has changed her opinion so drastically when it comes to the Dark Lord,and Hermione wakes up to a world a lot different than the one she was knocked unconscious to. Another shout out to my mother Catmau for all her encouragement and her staying on my ass to update these stories. And a huge thank you to all of you who have already favorited and followed both this story and me. You all make me smile.**_

 _ **Chapter Three:**_

Pandora had her daughter rushed to a room, throwing the power behind her last name around with an ease that only comes from using it for years. Fear of retribution from and old family was always a wonderful motivator when you needed something done. She smiled slyly to herself as she waited for the Healers to give her a status update on her daughter's condition. Once the adrenaline from the fight and her worry over her daughter faded she collapsed into one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs, her eyes slipping shut as the stress of the past few hours caught up with her.

Confronting Bellatrix and Lucius had not been her plan when she made her way through the Ministry. She hadn't actually had a plan at the time, seeing as her Animagus for had been in control for nine years, and had been quite enamored with Lord Voldemort because of his ability to speak her language. She grimaced as she thought about the past two years of her near enslavement to the monster.

1994 had been a terrible year for her, trapped behind her serpent-mind. The creature that Voldemort had been in the beginning had been terrifying, the tiny baby like creature had often had her hunt food for him when Wormtail had been a useless, sniveling idiot, and a few times he had ordered her to eat human corpses to get rid of the evidence of his misdeeds. She gagged at the thought and shook her head, moving on to the ritual that had brought the madman back to a semblance of his former "glory". She flinched at the thought of what the ritual had entailed.

Dark magic was only Dark if used to harm someone. The Imperious curse was useful in some instances that would require talking someone down, the Killing Curse could be used to put someone out of their misery. The Cruciatus Curse had no use except for those who got a sick thrill from causing people pain, she wouldn't even condone it in the use of interrogation. Most magic was all about intent, that was what decided whether or not it would begin to slowly corrupt you, but some magic was just inherently Dark. The ritual that restored Voldemort's body was one such piece of magic. It bordered on Necromancy, despite the fact that Voldemort had not truly been brought back from the dead, seeing as his spirit had still been around.

Pandora shuddered at the implications of such a feat, she had an idea of what the Dark Lord had done to ensure such a thing happened but she would need to make a trip to the Black Family library to be completely certain. For once she thanked the fact that her family had never been a Light family, otherwise she would have absolutely no clue what was going on. A frown marred her face as rage once again welled up in her chest. Her daughter had been raised by Muggles, Harry had also been raised by Muggles and while they were a Pureblood family, the Weasley's were a Light family, which meant that unless Dumbledore had told them, the Golden Trio had absolutely no clue what was going on or how to combat it. They also had next to no training. She had seen most of the battle, following silently to keep an eye on her precious one once she had been able to force her human consciousness into control of her serpentine body, they had used spells that would make even the most inexperienced Death Eater laugh. Blasting charms were great for some things, but all of them would need a much more thorough education on how to defend themselves, even if some of the hexes and curses she taught them were probably illegal. Who cared about the law when it came to life or death?

"Miss Black?" Pandora snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at the wizard that had called her name.

"Yes?"

"Miss Granger is resting easily. We gave her some blood replenishing potions and healed the wound, seeing as it was a curse wound there will be a scar, but no lasting damage thanks to your quick cauterizing charm." Pandora frowned at the mention of a scar but sighed, her daughter was safe, and that was what mattered, scars, both mental and physical, were and inevitability of war, and they most certainly were at war.

"Can... Can I go see her?" She stood, her face twisted in a hopeful smile.

"Yes, you may. She'll probably be asleep for awhile, we gave her a Drought of Dreamless Sleep, but we have placed an extra bed in the room for you, I'm sure with everything that has happened you are in need of rest as well." They had done a maternity charm to prove that Pandora was her mother, seeing as it was well known that Hermione Granger was a muggle-born.

"Thank you." Pandora tossed the grateful words over her shoulder as she rushed to the room her daughter was in. She paused in the doorway to check her daughter over, assuring herself that she was okay. Though her hair was still brown she could still see both herself and Lucius in her daughter's face.

"She has your curls." Pandora jumped slightly and spun to find Lucius standing behind her, molten silver eyes boring into her as though he could see straight into her soul.

"It's a Black family curse. How did you get out of the Ministry?" She grabbed her ex fiance and pulled him into the room, shutting the door and flicking her wand at it to lock and ward it.

"Disillusionment Charm and some help from your brother who caused quite a scene, demanding a trial under Veritserum to clear his name." She laughed softly, making the blonde grin at the sound.

"I should have known him betraying the Potters was a bunch of bollocks. Siri would have died before he ever said anything about them."

"Gryffindors are too damn noble." she snorted at his words and shook her head as she walked over to their daughter. An intricate pattern of wand motions and the glamours on the girl began to strip away, leaving her hair the same white blonde of the Malfoy blood, her eyes would once again be the stormy grey she had been born with. The tan her skin held faded away quickly, changing to a creamy ivory.

"I protected her the best way I thought I could. Though I must admit, seeing her fight in the ministry has quite changed my outlook on Muggle-borns, of everyone in there she was the only one who managed to fend off her attackers with a semblance of ease."

"But she's a Pureblood, not a mudblood." Lucius froze when Pandora rounded on him, her eyes sparking with anger s she leveled her wand at him,

"Lucius Abraxas Malfoy! I swear to Merlin if you say that foul word in my presence _ever_ again, I will curse you silent for a year." Her voice was low so as to not wake the sleeping girl from her much needed slumber but the venom and conviction in her tone paired with the use of his full name proved that she was not playing around. He swallowed and nodded, as much as he had loved her when they were younger, he had always known that he was no match for the Black woman, her speed and skill with a wand had always outmatched his by far.

"It's true though, she's not a mu... muggle-born..." He had to stop himself from saying mudblood when Pandora's wand tip began to glow a nasty dark red, and he was sure it was not just a simple silencing spell.

"True enough, she wasn't born to muggles but she was raised by them, she had no knowledge of the magical world until her eleventh birthday, and yet she is still the best in her class, from what little i've heard no one has been able to top her." She fired back, stowing her wand in the auror grade holster on her wrist. Lucius couldn't argue that point, whether the girl had been born to purebloods or not, she had been raised in a world that did not know magic.

"What happened that your opinions changed so much? You used to be much like the rest of your family, minus your brother."

"Siri was the white sheep of our family, always fighting mum and dad tooth and nail over everything, some of the things he said stuck. I also remember that Lily Evans was top of her class much like our lovely daughter." Pandora raised slender brow, daring him to argue with that fact. "What really changed my opinion was being enslaved to the monster you call a Lord for two years. Complusion charms are difficult to shake off when you're stuck in your animagus mind, not that they would have been needed, Nagini as she has been named, was quite enamored with your lord thanks to his ability to speak Parseltongue." Lucius stared at her in shock, blinking rapidly in hopes that the movement would help his brain catch up to what she was saying.

"The Dark Lord enslaved you?"

"He didn't know it was me, even someone who is a master of the mind arts can't help but be fooled when faced with a being with two minds, especially when one of which is no different than a normal snake." She shrugged and ran a hand through her hair, wincing when her fingers caught against the tangles amongst the wild curls.

"Still... he... he enslaved you! He used magic on you to keep you loyal to him when he didn't need to!" She snorted and smirked at him,

"Oh, he definitely would have needed it had I been able to overpower my animagus mind. But that's not the point of any of this. Phoebe... Hermione, is in danger. My daughter, our daughter, is in danger. She's chosen her side, and I plan to stand with her no matter what. You have a choice to make Lucius. Will you stand with us, or are you going to force us to cut you down? Because I don't care what feelings I had for you sixteen years ago, what feelings I still have for you. If you try to harm her, I will cut you down faster than you can blink and I know you know it too. Draco and Cissy are welcome to join us too." Pandora had moved to stand at the foot of Hermione's bed, notably placing herself between her daughter and the man she loved, a clear declaration of her intent.

Lucius took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, his eyes catching on the silvery blonde strands, the same color his son had, the same color he had passed on to his daughter. He froze at that thought, he had a daughter. The first female to be born to the Malfoy line in generations. He blinked and looked at the sleeping figure of the girl his son ranted about every holiday. His thoughts turned to his marriage. After Pandora's death date had appeared on the Black family tapestry, both the Malfoy and Black families had pushed Narcissa on him, but he had had no feelings for the woman despite her obvious feelings for him. After ensuring that he had an Heir he had not once taken her back into his bed, he could not sleep the woman he loved's cousin, not when it was only a marriage of convenience.

His right hand reached over and gripped his left forearm, where the Dark Mark hid beneath his sleeve, a Mark that Draco was to take this summer. Could he truly force his son into servitude to a madman, to a man who enslaved his beloved, knowingly or not? He shook his head, no, no he could not. He knew where he stood, and it would always be at Pandora's side.

"I will always stand at your side Pia. No matter where you stand." He smiled when she beamed at him, it would be difficult. The Weasley's would probably still want his head for what had happened in their daughter's first year. Black and Lupin wouldn't trust him, no matter what Pia said, Draco would fight tooth and nail against Potter and Weasley, and he would be shocked to find that "Mudblood Granger" was actually his sister and purer than pure.

"Good, we'll work on getting that Mark off as soon as Hermione wakes up and we explain what's going on to her." He sat in one of the chairs as Pandora sat in the bed beside their daughter's. They talked quietly while they waited for the young witch to wake up. While they talked Pandora unlocked the door and pulled her wards down, Lucius hadn't been caught at the Ministry and thus there was no need to hide him, he was just a father concerned for his long lost daughter.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

When Hermione woke the first thing she noticed was the sadly familiar smell of disinfectant charms and potions, the second thing she noticed was that her chest didn't hurt like she had expected it to when she woke, the third and final thing she noticed were the two voices in the room. Both soft, obviously trying not to disturb her, one was distinctly male, the other while raspy and hoarse was most definitely female, she recognized neither of them, but that was possibly because they were speaking so softly she couldn't make out what they were saying.

She blinked and opened her eyes slowly, vaguely noting that her eyes did not itch like they normally did, and the odd feeling in her scalp that she couldn't remember ever not having, had disappeared. She sat up slowly, glancing around the room out of instinct and freezing when she saw who the male in the room was.

"You! What the bloody hell are you doing here?!" She snapped as she glared at the elder Malfoy.

"Watch your language young lady!" Hermione's gaze shifted to the other woman in the room, finding herself staring at an almost exact copy of Sirius Black in female form, minus the haunted look in his eyes he got from being Azkaban for over a decade.

"Who are you, and why is he here?" She pointed a finger at Lucius Malfoy as she hissed at the woman.

"I see she inherited the Black temper." Lucius drawled, earning him a glare from both witches in the room. He held his hands up and chuckled, "I'll be quiet."

Pandora huffed at him before turning to her daughter and sighing, how did she start this conversation? How do you tell a sixteen year-old young woman that you were her biological mother, did she even know that she was adopted? There, she should start there and then move forward.

"Miss Granger, are you aware that you are adopted?" The young witch seemed to jolt slightly but she nodded,

"I have this box that I can't open, I've had it for as long as I can remember... The only thing on it is a name, Pandora, and a crest of sorts I think. When I learned about magic, I actually began to think I had the mythological Pandora's box, but I did more research and found out that it was destroyed many years ago. I asked my mum and dad about it and they said that when they adopted me the matron gave it to them and said that there had been a note with it but it had been misplaced."

"My name is Pandora Cassiopeia Black. That box you have is a portable safe that can only be opened by smearing a drop of blood across the crest. In it are some of your baby pictures, a necklace that once belonged to me but is now yours, and a tome of our family magic. You were born Phoebe Aurelia Black to one Pandora Cassiopeia Black and one Lucius Abraxas Malfoy."

Hermione began to shake as this woman, her biological mother, continued to speak. Her eyes darted to Lucius who, if this witch was to be believed, was her biological father. The information was too much for her already stressed brain to handle and she dropped back against the bed in a dead faint.

"That could have gone better." Pandora smacked Lucius upside the back of his head and glared at him,

"You think?"

 _ **Post A/N: This was an interesting chapter to type up I must admit. Lucius is kind of fun to write when he's not being a total dick and I like the besotted playful side the Pandora brings out in him. My brain did a good job with that I think. Also, yes I know I said this was a Dark!Hermione and that it doesn't seem like it's going that way so far with Pandora being on the Light side with Hermione, but Hermione can be darker without being for Voldemort winning. Until next time, R &R!**_

 _ **Up Next: Hermione has to face a world that has been turned upside down, she has a brother and a cousin, she's the Heiress to two enormous fortunes and... Narcissa wants both her and Pandora dead! *Evil Laughter***_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Whoo, another full day of writing! I'm pleasantly surprised at how much god feedback I'm getting for all of my stories, even the ones I just posted yesterday. Thanks to everyone who reads these, and to my mum, Catmau. She's awesome, and puts up with some of the more harebrained schemes I have for my stories. Oh, and to the Guest that asked, not Pandora is not a Horcrux, it was just the compulsion charms and a spell that allowed Voldemort to see through her eyes, which is why Harry got the vision of Arthur. Anyway, here's chapter four for Heiress of the Stars.**_

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Hermione woke once again to voices around her, the same two as well as another two male voices. They were raised in an argument.

"Hermione isn't the child of that slimy git! She can't be! I mean... how is that even possible?" That was Ron, what was he doing here, he wasn't family.

"Well you see Weasley. Lucius and I had-" Pandora was cut off by another voice, Sirius.

"Dora... The boy doesn't need to know that. _I_ don't need to know that." A soft laugh left the woman, Hermione could see her in her mind's eye, shaking her head as she laughed at her younger brother's uneasiness. Wait, why was Sirius here? He could get kissed if he was seen!

Hermione sat up in her bed, eyes wide as she searched the room for the Marauder. Her brows furrowed when she didn't spot him.

"He's in a Ministry holding cell, waiting for his trial." Hermione's gaze locked on her mother, who was holding a mirror, rather than reflecting the woman's face, Sirius was in the image, smirking slightly.

"Awh, worried about me 'Mione? I always knew I was the favorite Uncle."

"You're her only Uncle, Black." Lucius's words brought a flinch from the brother and sister, making the blonde frown, "What?" He looked between the siblings as Pandora glared at him and Sirius's face was a wash of guilt and sadness. Hermione watched the exchange silently, wondering why those words would bring out such emotions in the two.

"Regulus." Pandora's voice made the blonde freeze and his face crumpled slightly in guilt.

"I'm sorry Pia... I wasn't... I wasn't thinking." the sad smile that crept across her biological mother's face broke Hermione's heart.

"It's okay Luci... Not everyone survives war, some are just taken far too soon." Hermione couldn't help herself when she threw her bed sheets back and launched herself at the older witch, wrapping her up in her arms. Pandora was frozen for half a second before she thrust the mirror in Lucius's hands and wrapped her arms around her daughter, holding her tightly.

Hermione pulled back to look at her mother, her eyes filling with tears. She had always wondered who her biological parents were, she wanted to ask them why they had given her up.

"Why... why did you two give me up?"

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Pandora sighed as she sat back and ran a hand through her daughter's hair, this was going to be a difficult conversation. She frowned as she tried to organize her thoughts to figure out where to begin, her efforts were wasted when the loud-mouth red-head that had burst into the room less than thirty minutes ago demanding to see her daughter started to shout.

"You can't really believe all this 'Mione! You're a Gryffindor! You can't be these Snakes kid! It's just not possible." Pandora opened her mouth to berate the boy, even as she fought the urge to hex him stupid... well stupider, but her daughter beat her to it.

"Honestly Ronald! Firstly, this is a hospital, you should keep your voice down. Secondly, I've known I was adopted by my muggle parents for years, I'm sure that if Pandora is my mother she can tell me a few things that only myself or my mother would know." Hermione looked at the older witch who smiled and nodded slightly.

"There's a birthmark on the back of your neck that looks like a tiny firework, you have a beauty mark on your left shoulder blade and there is a scar on your right elbow from where you sliced it open taking a tumble down the front steps of the house we lived at before I gave you up. I had gone inside to get something to drink, you were one and a half and extremely adventurous. I would have healed it but it's not safe to use a lot magic on someone that young, luckily I had a lot of practice stitching Siri up that I was able to stitch it up, seeing as I was dead and the normal glamours I used wouldn't hold up for long in Saint Mungos I had to do it myself..."

"Pia, you're rambling." Lucius cut her off with a gentle hand on her shoulder, making her blush sheepishly. Hermione turned to her friend and glared at him,

"Someone would have had to seen me naked to know all those things, my muggle parents didn't even know about my birthmark until I asked because my hair has been long enough to cover it since before they adopted me." Ron opened his mouth to argue again only to shut it again when Pandora hissed, actually hissed at him like a pissed off snake.

"You are not family, and shouldn't even be here. Get out before you say something that makes me lose my temper."

"You can't remove me! I'm 'Mione's best friend!"

"And I'm her mother you insufferable child!" Pandora would have stood up were it not for the sixteen year old young woman still sitting in her lap.

"Ronald, leave." All eyes shifted to the young blonde in shock. The red-head looked hurt, but both her parents were staring at her with pride, "You've done nothing but yell since I woke up, and probably since before I woke up. I'm exhausted and my chest is starting to hurt. I have questions for my parents that you are not privy to, nor do you need to know the answers."

"Fine. Side with the bloody Snakes." Ron spun on his heel to leave, glancing back he growled one word that made Hermione's face crumple with sadness "Traitor." Tears pricked the young woman's eyes before she buried her face in her mother's chest.

"I'm going to kill him. He's going to die a terrible painful death full of agony and blood." Lucius stared at his beloved as she glared after the red-head, her arms wrapped around their daughter protectively.

Pandora stroked Hermione's hair for a few moments until the girl pulled back and wiped her eyes, sniffling softly. Her eyes flicked to Lucius,

"Nothing about how Malfoy's don't cry?" she was shocked when the blonde smirked slightly.

"Draco was a bit of a crybaby, and you are technically a Black seeing as you were born out of wedlock. Black's are notorious for being high strung and emotional." he yelped and rubbed his thigh roughly making Hermione turn her head to look at her mother. Pandora stowed her wand in the holster on her wrist, her lips twitching slightly. Hermione giggled slightly before moving back to her bed and turning so she could see the both of them.

"So... why did you two give me up?" Pandora sighed heavily and put her head in her hands for a few minutes as she organized her thoughts. When she sat back up she looked Hermione in the eye and began her story.

"The first thing you need to know is that Lucius holds no blame for you being given up and raised by muggles, he didn't even know you existed until yesterday." After that was put on the table and accepted by the young witch, she continued.

While Pandora talked to Hermione, patiently answering the young woman's may questions despite being obviously annoyed by the interruptions, Lucius wrote and sent off a letter to his son at Hogwarts, hoping it arrived there by breakfast time.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The first place Bellatrix thought of when she fled the Ministry was Malfoy Manor. Her sister would need to know that their cousin was not actually dead. She stepped into the lavish home almost nervously, something didn't feel right, her head felt funny. She shook it off, the effects of Azkaban were far reaching, making it difficult for her to focus.

"Cissy!" She shouted, walking through the manor looking for her sister.

"Bella?" Bellatrix turned at her sister's voice, the blonde was standing in the hallway in a house robe, she looked as though she had been asleep. "Is something wrong? Did something happen to Lucius?" Worry filled the blonde's tone at her last question, her eyes pleading with her eldest sister.

"No... I don't know. I almost killed Sirius, but a dead woman saved him."

"Who did you kill Bella? The Granger girl?" Bellatrix shook her head,

"No one is dead, at least no one was before I left. Pandora saved Sirius. Dora saved him... knocked him out of the way..."

"Bella, you aren't making any sense. Pandora has been dead for sixteen years. Are you sure you weren't..."

"I know what I saw Cissy! She was there! She cursed Dolohov for cursing the mudblood bitch! She saved Sirius from my curse! She... she said the mudblood was her daughter..." Bella's eyes were wide and wild as she thought about what that might mean. She knew... she had known that Pandora and Lucius had had sex before they were to be married, she had been the one to distract their families so the two of them could have some time alone. They had been disgustingly in love, the sight had always made the elder woman smile, at least one of their family was happy with their match. She started laughing, startling her sister who was now staring at her almost fearfully.

Bellatrix knew there was no way that girl was anyone but Lucius's, Pandora never would have betrayed the blonde that way. That also meant that if Lucius claimed her she would be the Heiress of both the Black and Malfoy fortunes, born out of wedlock or not, there were ways to fix that.

"Bella? Are... are you okay?" The crazed woman looked at her sister, unable to stop the giggles pouring from her lips.

"Draco... Draco has some competition for the Malfoy and Black fortunes now." Bella frowned, Pandora would be more worried about her daughter than her now... she had more important things to worry about.

"What do you mean Bellatrix?" Narcissa's eyes were hard as she stared her crazy sister down.

"Dora said that the Granger girl was her daughter, went so far as to curse Dolohov to protect her."

"So? Dora got pregnant by some other man then, there's no way she's Lucius's daughter." Narcissa frowned when Bellatrix snorted and rolled her eyes before locking gazes with the younger woman.

"Honestly Cissy. Pandora was sickeningly in love with Lucius, there's no way that girl is anyone else's daughter. Pandora would have cut her own throat before she betrayed Lucius like that."

"If the girl was Lucius's then why would Pandora run away and fake her death? Malfoy's don't have female children, there hasn't been a female born to the Malfoy line in years." Bellatrix started laughing again, shaking her head at her sister's naivete.

"Do you honestly think Aunt Walburga would have suffered a child conceived out of wedlock? If she didn't kill the child before it was born you can be sure there would have been an "accident" the babe suffered afterwards that lead to her death, and Pandora would have slaughtered her and you know it." Narcissa shook her head vehemently. Her blonde hair flying about her face wildly.

"No. I can't believe it. Even if it is the truth, Lucius would never return to Pandora, he's _my_ husband! He married me. Draco is his heir, not some jumped up mudblood bitch."

"Kill her then. Lucius would drop you faster than you could blink if he even thought for half a second he could return to Dora. You want Draco to get the fortunes then kill the girl."

"I'll kill them both, Draco is the heir and Lucius is my husband, I'll be damned if I let my cousin take him from me." Narcissa hissed, her eyes narrowing as she began thinking.

"NO! Pandora is mine, you will not harm her!" Narcissa froze as she found herself at the wrong end of Bellatrix's wand. "Promise me Cissy, I want your oath that you would hurt Dora... I need her." Narcissa nodded rapidly and quickly gave her sister her oath. She would do anything so long as she didn't end up at the wrong end of the crazed woman's wand again.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Draco sat silently at the Slytherin table eating breakfast while his mates laughed and talked around him. He didn't show it outwardly, but he was worried about his father. The Prophet had said that ten Death Eaters had been arrested at the Ministry of Magic last night. He knew his father had been there, but he hadn't heard anything from him. Grey eyes scanned the windows that the owls always came through, hoping to see the familiar eagle owl that always came with mail from home.

"Draco, it's not healthy to worry so much. I'm sure he's fine." Theo's voice made the blonde jump, the dark haired boy was staring at his blonde friend worriedly.

"Easy for you to say, you hate your father, it wouldn't matter to you if he was arrested." Theo didn't even flinch at the words, he just gave the blonde a calculating look. "I'm sorry mate, I'm just worried." The teen nodded at his friend and went back to eating his breakfast while Draco went back to watching the windows for any sign of movement.

Ten minutes later saw owls begin swooping into the Great Hall, some just dropping their packages, others landing in front of specific people. An owl that Draco didn't recognize landed gracefully in front of him and offered it leg. Draco took the scroll of parchment, absentmindedly feeding the bird a bit of sausage as he unrolled the paper. Relief flooded him at the familiar scrawl of his father's handwriting, but it didn't last long as he was informed that he was at Saint Mungos. Draco almost stopped reading as a desire to rush to his godfather and demand answers washed over him, but the letter was much longer so he assumed it would explain.

 _Draco,_

 _I'm sure by the time this letter reaches you, you will have been informed by the Prophet that a number of arrests were made last night as a group of Death Eaters infiltrated the Ministry. Do not worry, no one we care to associate with were among the numbers arrested. I am currently in Saint Mungos dealing with a few family issues that have sprung up. What I have to tell you is best not explained in a letter, but I find I have no choice._

 _You have a sister. An older sister. One you actually know quite well. Your fellow classmate Hermione Granger was born Phoebe Aurelia Black. By blood she is your sister, by marriage she is your cousin, something I will be remedying as soon as possible. I know that this will be difficult for you to accept, but at one point I was betrothed to another of the Black family, Pandora. Yes, I know your mother has shown you the Black family tapestry and it says she died sixteen years ago, but I assure you, she is very much alive. There is much we need to discuss this summer, for now I leave you this warning. Hermione will be returning to school as soon as Saint Mungos releases her, likely later this evening or early tomorrow. I do not know if she will return to classes, but she is your sister, I know you have expressed the wishes of a sibling, and I apologize that I was unable to give you one until now, but treat as you would your friends, I mean Blaise and Theo, not Crabbe and Goyle, I will do my best to get them removed from your presence, I know how you dislike their stupidity._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Lucius Malfoy_

 _P.S. This is as much a shock to her as it is to you, be kind. And keep Weasley away from her, he made her cry and her mother already wants to kill him._

Draco stared at the letter in shock.

"Drakey?" Pansy leaned against him to try to read the letter only for him to pull away abruptly and look at his only two true friends pleadingly before rushing from the Great Hall.

The Nott and Zabini heirs both stood immediately and followed Draco. The three friends stopped outside the second floor girls lavatory. Draco took a deep breath before stepping into the abandoned bathroom. As soon as his friends followed him he threw up locking and silencing charms before thrusting the letter into Theo's hands, knowing the Nott heir wouldn't say anything until Blaise had read it as well. Draco watched his friend's brow raise higher and higher as he read. He passed the letter off to Blaise and huffed slightly, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Granger's your sister?!" Blaise handed the letter back to Draco as the words tumbled from his lips.

"Apparently."

"She must hate you. You've been a total git to her since first year." Draco groaned at Theo's words and slumped against a wall.

"If I had known..."

"But you didn't. Neither did she. Your dad raised you that way and told you to act that way to keep you safe. The most you can do is apologize and hope to Merlin she forgives you."

"Do you think she will?" Theo snorted at the question.

"Hard to say. She's a Black, they're notorious for holding grudges, runs in the family apparently." Theo paused as Draco whimpered slightly and the dark haired teen rolled his eyes, " _But_ , but, she is also a Gryffindor. Bloody bleeding hearts they are. And she obviously forgave Weasley for the Yule ball last year, she'll probably forgive you." Draco's face darkened at the red-head's name. "We'll get him back for making her cry. She's your sister, that makes her an honorary Slytherin."

The grin that appeared on Draco's lips would have scared the two boys if they weren't wearing ones that were similar.

 _ **Post A/N: It took me four hours to write this thing, and I feel like the beginning is a bit forced because my brain couldn't really figure out what to do, it was very focused on the scene with Bellatrix, but it's done, and I'm pretty happy with it overall. Hope you guys enjoyed!**_

 _ **Up next, Ron's in for it, never make a Slytherin Heiress cry... Narcissa and Bellatrix plot. Lucius officially claims his daughter and Pandora offers to adopt Draco. Yay!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: So I'm going to start this off with a bit of news, and answer a, well it wasn't really a question, more of a statement that, whether intended as so or not, I took it as rather rude. Chapter five of this story only comes to you today because I made a promise to my mother to get this chapter out, it might be a bit longer than usual because I've got a lot of stuff in mind for this chapter, including the light outline I put at the end of chapter four.**_

 _ **Now, I'm not actually going to call the person out, but I was told that they didn't see the point in Harry, unless I had a reason, being in the tags because four chapters in he wasn't important to the story. Now I will remind you that this is only the FIFTH chapter of what I hope will be a fairly long story. Hermione is not one, I think, to accept that the father of one of her bullies and a woman she has never met or heard of are her parents right off the rip. She needs to ask questions and have a solid reason to believe any of this. So no, at this point in time Harry is not a main player in the story. For right now it will revolve mostly around Hermione and Draco getting to know each other as brother and sister, and Lucius getting to know the daughter that was denied to him for sixteen years. It is a family matter, and while Harry might be Sirius's godson, he is not part of her immediate family. If I didn't have a reason for Harry to be in the tags then he wouldn't be in the tags. Also whether Hermione ends up with Harry or a Slytherin is kind of up in the air right now, I've already answered a private message about pairings and I believe a story writes itself, no, I don't plan on Hermione being with Harry, yes I do plan on her being with a Slytherin, but if that's not the way the story writes itself so be it. NEVER assume what I'm going to do because even I only have a vague idea of what the story is going to do. Assumption is the mother of all fuck ups, and it quite makes an ass out of you and me.**_

 _ **I'm sorry to all my loyal readers who actually read my Author's notes and had to read me rant, but my sleep deprived brain took that comment in a very displeasing way. Without further ado, here's chapter five.**_

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Hermione looked at the doors to the Great Hall and tried to calm the furious beating of her heart. She could do this. She glanced down at her new robes and sighed softly. When the hat had told her that she would have done well in Slytherin in first year, she had vehemently denied the House of Cunning, knowing just from some of her interactions on the Hogwarts' Express that she would have no place in the Snake's Den because of her heritage. Now she was sure she would be treated with nothing but respect. Despite her love for her muggle parents she decided she would embrace her true heritage and had quickly taken the Black name, though she refused to change her first and middle names. Not because she didn't like them, the names her mother had given her were wonderful, but she was afraid she wouldn't answer to Phoebe, even now she was concerned she wouldn't realize that anyone was talking to her if she was called Miss Black. Maybe she could convince the Professors to call her Hermione until she got used to her new name. Her mind turned to the night before in her room at Saint Mungo's as she stood outside the Great Hall, reflecting on all that had happened in the past two days. Two days ago she had been Hermione Jean Granger, know-it-all muggle-born. Now she was Hermione Jean Black, Heiress of the Black family fortune, and soon to be the Heiress of the Malfoy family fortune.

She had taken all of the evening before to grill her mother about why she had been given up, and as much as she wanted to she couldn't hate the woman's reasons. All she had wanted was Hermione to live a normal, happy, _safe_ life. Her fears at the time had been genuine, and even if she had managed to get her muggle parents to give her back, Dan had made that impossible by sending the woman, snake at the time, to the London zoo. Pandora had been hesitant to reveal that fact while Lucius was in the room, but once she had secured the sometimes volatile wizard's promise that he would do nothing rash she had revealed that she had been the snake that Hermione had been so intent on playing with when she was six. Lucius had been rightly incensed that the woman he loved had been locked up in a muggle zoo for five years. To tell the truth, Hermione had been rather upset as well, though she couldn't blame her adoptive father. Dan had no clue at the time that magic existed, no clue what an animagus was, let alone that one would venture into the muggle world. He had been rightfully concerned about the abnormally large snake that had shown an interest in his seven year old daughter. She could just imagine the conversation she was going to have with him this summer before she left to stay with her biological parents.

" _Hey, dad? You remember that snake you had animal control take to the zoo when I was seven? Yeah... That was my biological mother. She spent the next almost five years imprisoned it the zoo until Harry accidentally released her with accidental magic."_

She snorted softly and shook her head, she could almost see the look of absolute horror and guilt on her gentle father's face. He hadn't been happy when he found out that the poor animal had been taken to the zoo and not released into the wild somewhere far away from his daughter, but at the time when he thought it may have come down to the life of a wild, albeit strangely tame, animal and his daughter, the choice was easy for him to make.

She was torn from her thoughts when someone slammed into her from behind, sending her sprawling to the ground. Fury and righteous indignation filled her as she picked herself up and whirled around to face the one who bumped into her. She may have been standing in front of the doors, but the hall was large enough and long enough that it would have been impossible to see her before the collision and move over enough to avoid her.

Grey eyes narrowed at the red-head she hadn't spoken to since she had kicked him out of her hospital room. His face was almost as red as his hair as he stared her down with the most hateful look on his face. He hadn't even looked this angry at the Yule ball the year before when they had their argument about Krum.

"Watch where you're going Ronald." Despite her greatest wish to hiss the insult her younger brother often flung at the red-head she refrained, hoping she would actually be able to salvage her friendship with the irritable ginger.

"Piss off you filthy snake." He snarled before pushing past her, purposely slamming her shoulder into her as he moved into the Great Hall. She spun, glaring after him. Her hope to salvage their friendship obviously was a futile one.

Harry placed his hand on her shoulder, making her turn to the messy haired teen. His face was full of concern for her. "You alright 'Mione? It is still Hermione right? Or did you switch to the name your birth mother gave you?" Hermione gave him a slight smile as she swallowed down the tears that Ron's attitude had brought to her eyes.

"Yeah. It's still Hermione, Hermione Black now, but I'm still Hermione. Merlin, I never thought I'd say my own name so many times in one sentence." She laughed slightly, "I'm fine Harry. Ronald's... he's just being Ron." She frowned slightly, she had never noticed how much Ron's words had hurt her before, she supposed her friendship with Harry had mattered more than letting the petty red-head get to her.

"He'll come around?" Harry offered, but even he didn't sound to sure of himself.

"No. No Harry, I don't think he will. That's okay though, I'm probably better off without him. I still have you though... Right?" Harry grinned at her and nodded.

"Always 'Mione, even when Ron's being a git." He paused and gave her a quick once over, studying her in a way he never had before, "This might sound weird... but you look more like yourself. Green and silver suits you." Hermione stared at her friend, blinking owlishly before a grin spread over her face and she wrapped him in a hug.

"Thank you Harry. I feel more like myself too. It'll take awhile to get used to the blonde hair and grey eyes but my eyes don't itch anymore and my scalp doesn't feel funny." She pulled back and ran a hand through her hair which had gone from a frizzy mess to a mass of wild curls that matched her mother's in everything but color and length. The glamours her mother had placed on her to hide the distinctive coloring that marked her as a child of a Black/Malfoy coupling had messed with her hair, making it frizzy rather than actual curls. "I was a bit skeptical of Pandora's insistence that I be resorted, but now I'm pretty glad she insisted, I'd hate to have to live in the tower with Ronald now that he's being a git about my parents."

"I don't blame you 'Mione. If you ever need any help keeping the Snakes in line I'd be more than happy to help." Hermione laughed loudly at that, hugging the boy once again.

"Well... I can't put it off any longer. I have a brother to meet officially. Off to the Snake Pit with me. Good luck in the Lion's Den. Ron won't be easy to deal with if or when he finds out you aren't taking his side this time." Maybe it was her Slytherin nature coming out a bit but she couldn't help the light jab at him for taking Ron's side more often than not in any arguments the two former friends had. Harry had the decency to blush and look slightly ashamed of himself.

"I'm sorry... He was my first friend, I just didn't want to lose him... I may be rethinking that stance if he gets too bad when it comes to you." Hermione shrugged,

"I have no problem defending myself if he moves beyond childish insults. Have a good breakfast Harry." She stepped away from her best friend and pushed the doors to the Great Hall open, steeling her nerves against the stares she was sure to receive. She sighed when she realized at once that she was right, as usual. Almost every pair of eyes in the Great Hall turned towards the doors, locking instantly on her. She blushed and fought the urge to duck her head and run to her new table, instead she squared her shoulders and walked, albeit quickly, to the Slytherin table. Her steps faltered as she neared the table, horror filling her as she realized she had no clue where to sit. Her savior came in the form of her former bully, now her brother,

"Over here sis!" The blonde stood and waved her over, making her shoulders slump in relief. She ran over to him, smiling slightly at Theo Nott when he slid down the bench to give her room to sit next to her brother.

As soon as she sat down the whispers around the Hall started and she ducked her head, her cheeks bright red in embarrassment. Draco poured her a cup of pumpkin juice and set it in front of her while Theo started putting food on the plate that had appeared in front of her as soon as she sat down. There was a strange tension around their little group was tangible and Hermione hated it.

"So... did the Weasel really make you cry?" Her head snapped up when Draco asked her that question. Her confusion must have shown on her face because he smirked and explained, "Father sent me a letter telling me everything. Well, not everything but enough. Told me to keep him away from you because he made you cry and your mother wanted to kill him already." Hermione gave him a slight smile,

"He called me a traitor when I kicked him out of my hospital room so I could talk to Pandora and Lucius in private." She couldn't bring herself to call them mother and father, or Merlin forbid, mum and dad yet. They had both been understanding when she expressed that to them and had told her that they didn't want to move the fledgling relationship too fast, lest they push their daughter away when they just got her, back in Pandora's case.

"What does Potter think about that? He normally sides with the ginger menace." She giggled slightly at Draco's name for her former friend, it was what many called her familiar.

"Harry, for once, is on my side with this. He values family and understands my wish to get to know my biological parents. He'd give just about anything to just meet his mother and father, he doesn't begrudge me the chance to do what he can't." Draco shared a look with Blaise and Theo making Hermione narrow her eyes at him. She had spent enough years around the Weasley twins to know when someone was plotting something and she wanted to know what they were up to. Her name and house change hadn't changed her need to be a nosy, bossy, insufferable know-it-all as her new Head of House often described her. "What are you three planning?"

"Planning? We aren't planning anything, what would give you that idea?" Draco looked entirely too innocent for her tastes as she hummed and raised a brow at him.

"You do remember that Fred and George Weasley are two of my best friends right?"

"Those two are entirely too Slytherin to have been in Gryffindor." Blaise muttered into his cup as he took a sip of his pumpkin juice.

"Spill. What are you planning? I want in." Hermione started eating as she gave her brother an expectant look. She had expected everything to be extremely awkward and tense between the two of them, what with their history and all, but she was pleasantly surprised that it hadn't come up immediately. She knew that there were hurts that needed to be mended, but for right now she just wanted a normal day, she would worry about their past later.

She was quickly brought up to speed about their plots to get Ron back for making her cry, and even managed to provide a few ideas that weren't too terrible. She felt guilty that she was so quick to turn on one of her former friends, but it hadn't taken him any time for him to turn on her, just because she was related to Lucius Malfoy. It would be nice to get revenge on all the times he had insulted her or made her cry long before she found out about her true parentage. Maybe that made her a terrible person, maybe it made her a traitor, but sitting there, plotting with her brother and his friends, she could almost imagine she was sitting at the Gryffindor table with Harry and the twins, plotting harmless pranks against the red-head that often vexed the four of them.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Pandora stared silently at her former betrothed, what the blonde was suggesting just wasn't done in Pureblood society, and the fact that it was her cousin he was suggesting he do it to made her want to slap the sometimes infuriating man.

"Pia... please say something." Lucius pleaded with her, that in itself shocked her out of her stupor, Malfoy men never pleaded with anyone, it was beneath them.

"What you are suggesting guarantees that Narcissa will be a social pariah in our society, you _know_ that." The blonde sighed as he stepped forward and took her hands gently.

"I know... I know it will ruin her within the eyes of other Purebloods in Britain, but Draco desrves a mother that will love him no matter what, Hermione deserves to know her father. Are you going to deny that?" Pandora tore her hands out of his grasp and wrapped her arms around herself. Her love and want for this man was warring with everything she had ever been taught by her mother and father.

"Merlin no! They both deserve a family that loves them, especially in the times to come now that Voldemort is back, but you're asking me to go against everything I was taught, everything _we_ were taught!"

"You went against all those rules when Hermione was conceived."

"And look where that got us!" She snapped, her legendary temper flaring at the thought, "Hermione was raised by Muggles! You're married to my bloody cousin!" Lucius's cheeks flushed with temper,

"And whose decisions was it that got us here? You ran away! Twice!" She growled and had her wand pointed at his face in half a second, the tip glowing vibrant purple as she snarled,

"You better not be accusing me of being a coward Lucius Malfoy. I _ran away_ , as you so tactfully put it, to protect my daughter from the one person I've ever truly feared, my _mother_. You followed a man who's name literally means flight from death in French, or were you too scared of the man to realize that? Your family is originally from France isn't it?" He opened his mouth to retort but she cut him off, "And then you plead the Imperious curse to get out of a prison sentence! You took that Mark willingly, you let a madman brand you like muggle cattle! If either of us is the coward it's you." The last part of her voice was said in a voice so soft that he almost didn't hear her.

"I was protecting my family! My son. A son that should have been yours!" his hand tightened on his cane til his knuckles were white, he would never draw his wand on this woman, or any woman really, but he'd rather take an Avada to the chest before he raised his wand against her. "The Dark Lord is-"

"Voldemort! Say his fucking name, I refuse to allow you to call him a _Lord_ in my presence."

" _Voldemort_ is a powerful wizard. Yes, I was scared of him, I was scared that if I refused him I would be killed, Abraxas was not a kind man, Voldemort even less so. I did what I had to. To _survive_." He admitted quitely, watching as Pandora sagged slightly and lowered her wand, though she did not stow it back in the holster on her forearm. She took a deep breath to calm herself, the temper her family was cursed with was almost worse than the insanity some of their members suffered. She ran her hands through her hair and griped the tangled locks tightly as she fought to calm her anger down. "I'm sorry Pia... I shouldn't have insinuated that you were a coward, you did what you thought was best at the time. Your fear was valid." She let out a barking laugh similar to her brother's,

"And yours wasn't? You were right to fear that sadistic bastard. Before I ran, because you're right, I ran. Before I ran, Reggy used to come home shaking so bad he could barely stand. It would take days before I no longer had to hold his spoon for him because the shaking was so bad. I know what Cruciatus damage looks like Lucius, father used that damned curse on Sirius enough times." The blonde swallowed as he reached for her again, his eyes filled with unshed tears,

"Pia... did he...?" He started slightly when she gave a bitter laugh and shook her head, her stormy eyes meeting his, the fire behind them startled him.

"No, he didn't want to risk my loosing the ability to carry a child. My punishments may have been worse though, he knew how much I cared about my brothers. Before we started school, if I did something to displease him he would beat them bloody, Sirius mainly because Mother always said Regulus was too young. When Sirius started to go to Potter's house for the holidays, that's when he started on Reggy. I always felt so powerless to stop him." She leaned into his chest as she spoke, unable to continue to look him in the eye. "I always stitched them up and apologized profusely. Both of them were too forgiving... if I... if I had been a better daughter, more like all the other Pureblood girls... maybe..." Lucius cut her off by tilting her face up so he could look her in the eye.

"No, our father's were very similar, even if you had be completely _perfect_ Orion would have found something to punish you for. Nothing was ever good enough for our fathers. Let's just leave it at that and get back to the actual reason we were arguing." Pandora sighed and pulled away from him.

"Divorcing Narcissa is your choice Lucius. I don't support it, but I agree that Hermione and Draco deserve better lives. Draco especially, I cant imagine what it was like to be living in the same house as my _lovely_ cousin. There's not a maternal bone in her body." The word lovely was spoken with such sarcasm that Lucius couldn't help the chuckle that spilled out.

"If I do will you promise you'll marry me?" Pandora snorted and rolled her eyes,

"Idiot, that's a terrible way to propose, especially since you're currently still married."

" _Please_ Pia. I need to know you won't hold my divorce with your cousin against me." She sighed and nodded,

"I promise, once you are free of my cousin's clutches I will marry you. Just say when." Lucius knew it was wrong seeing as he _was_ still married, but he couldn't help himself. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly on the lips.

The two former lovers were so caught up in their own little bubble of happiness they didn't notice the livid blonde witch standing as close as she could without being seen or noticed in any way. Her face was blood red as she spun in place and apparated back to the Manor. Divorce _her_?! She'd see to it that that wasn't possible without her death. In her anger she didn't realize that Pandora had been arguing _against_ Lucius divorcing her, all that swirled through her mind was the fact that _her_ husband wanted to divorce her for her _cousin._ She'd show them, screw her Oath to Bellatrix, she hadn't actually meant that, and had screwed up the wording without her eldest sister realizing it. Pandora wouldn't be around much longer, and this time she would stay dead if it was the last thing Narcissa did. _No one_ took what she considered hers. Never once did she think about Sirius, the Head of the Black Family, and how easily he could dissolve her marriage once he was cleared.

Once they pulled apart she took a deep breath and smiled up at the blonde,

"Come along now, I promised I'd be there for him when Sirius got exonerated." She looped her arm in his and started away from the hidden alcove they had been speaking in. Her brows furrowed as she passed by the spot her cousin had been standing in. Glancing around she took a deep breath and let it out in relief when she didn't see the youngest of Cygnus's children anywhere nearby. The last thing she wanted right now was a scene, her being on Lucius's arm instead of his wife would cause a big enough scandal as is, she didn't need anything else piled on top of her already overburdened shoulders.

The trial went smoothly, which shocked the elder black sibling, she had expected people to fight to keep her brother in prison or get him kissed right there in the courtroom, but even the corrupted system couldn't argue with a innocent man when he was under the effects of Veritiserum. Her brother was exonerated and reinstated as Head of the Black family, giving him all control over its assets, which in all technicality meant he had control over her and any surviving Black women, whether they still carried the last name or not. Her eyes narrowed as she watched her younger brother leave the room a free man as an idea began to form in her mind. Perhaps they _didn't_ need to disgrace Narcissa.

 _ **A/N: Holy shite, this is a long chapter... my shoulder is cramping and my fingers hurt from how long I've been typing without so much as a break. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I once again feel the need to apologize for my rant earlier, I honestly felt like I needed to get that off my chest. Also, as usual, shout out to my mum, Catmau, my lovely unofficial Beta, she's awesome, I'd say read her stuff but she doesn't write, she gives me the ideas and leaves it up to my twisted mind to make them beautiful works of art. Thanks again and please R &R!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Chapter six comes to you today from the busy lobby of my favorite Starbucks, as usual. I am so tired today it's not funny, I don't even know how I have the energy to open my laptop, let alone write this chapter. Being a housekeeper for a nice hotel both sucks and rocks at the same time.**_

 _ **On to more serious matters. So this story is basically going to follow canon with a lot of minor changes and a few major changes. One of the major changes is going to be a major character death, yes I know, I'm terrible. Originally I was going to kill both Lucius and Pandora off in the final battle, but my mother, bless her, suggested I put it to a vote amongst my readers... not before she suggested I kill Luna Lovegood off and then laughed at me for a good five minutes because of the look of abject horror on my face. One does not simply kill Luna off, it's just not done. So, it is up to you my lovely readers, what main character do you think I should kill in the final battle? Let me know in the comments.**_

 _ **Without further ado, Chapter Six .**_

 _ **Chapter Six:**_

Hermione fell in easily with her brother's friends, much to her surprise. The past five years had been filled with nothing but Ron and Percy warning her away from all Slytherins, saying that no one in the house ever turned out good. She found out quickly that while there were a few bad eggs amongst the Snakes, there weren't nearly as many as she had been lead to believe.

"A few of the Weasleys tend to forget that their father's mother was a Black, and a Slytherin too." Draco had told her one day over lunch when she had finally gotten the courage up to ask him about it. That little tidbit had surprised her, but now that she thought about it, it made sense. While they had fallen from grace in the recent generations, the Weasleys were still part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, and all of them were powerful in their own right; it also explained Ron and Ginny's tempers.

Hermione was sitting at the Slytherin table for breakfast when a commotion from her former house table drew her attention from the conversation she had been having with Theo about Ancient Runes. Her eyes were drawn to Harry and Ron, the latter of the two was standing, screaming down at Harry,

"How can you still be friends with her?! She's nothing but a filthy Snake now!" It didn't take a genius to figure out what, or rather who they were arguing about.

"Circumstances of birth do not make a person Ron. No matter who she's related to or what house she's in Hermione is still Hermione!" Harry snapped back, rising to his feet.

"But... but she's a Slytherin! They're evil, the lot of them! And she's a _Malfoy_!"

"Actually, she's a Black, just like Sirius, and your grandmother." Harry had calm slightly, though his eyes were narrowed at the livid red-head.

"Sirius was a Gryffindor, he doesn't count." Ron shot back, his face turning an ugly red.

"And what about your grandmother? Your dad told me that she was a Slytherin. Are you going to say she was evil too?" Ron was treading dangerous waters and needed to choose his next words carefully, casting aspersions against someone's character while they were alive was one thing, they could refute and challenge you to a duel, insulting the dead was another thing, anyone from the Black family could challenge him to a duel should they feel the need.

"I-... Well, no. She wasn't..." Harry raised a brow slightly,

"So what makes Hermione different? She's been our best friend since first year." Ron snorted loudly,

"She may have been your friend but I wouldn't have had anything to do with her if she hadn't been helping me do my homework." Gasps sounded around the room and Hermione felt the Black temper her mother had warned her about roil in her chest. Her face flushed and she started to stand, only to be held down by her brother and Theo. Draco shook his head slightly.

"Back to the Slytherin's are all evil thing, that way I can pretend you didn't just say that because I really want to curse you for it. Did you know that when I was Sorted the Sorting Hat said I'd do great in any house? Which House do you think it tried to put me in first?"

"Gryffindor of course, everyone knows that both your parents were Gryffindors." Ron stated confidently, looking as though he had won a prize. His face fell when Harry smirked and shook his head,

"It wanted to put me in Slytherin first, said I'd be great in there, but Mal- Draco, had already made me wary of the house so I requested any other house, I'd have been happy as a Hufflepuff, it was pure chance that I was put in Gryffindor." Everyone in the House of Lions was staring at The-Boy-Who-Lived in utter shock, no one had expected that.

"Then you're no better than any of those filthy snakes!" Ron went to pull his wand, only to find himself unable to move.

"I believe that is enough. Mister Weasley, detention with Mister Filch for the rest of the school year for pulling your wand on another student with intent to harm. Mister Potter, the Headmaster and I would like to speak with you in the Headmaster's office."

"Of course Professor McGonagal, I was going to ask to speak with Professor Dumbledore after breakfast anyway, this just keeps me from having to hunt him down." Harry turned and walked out of the Great Hall, winking at Hermione as he went. The blonde grinned at him, earning him a glare from her younger brother, who yelped when Hermione's elbow found his ribs.

"What was that for Hermione?" Draco whined, rubbing his ribs where she hit him.

"For glaring at my best friend."

"I don't like the way he looks at you." Draco huffed. Hermione rolled her eyes and raised a brow at him,

"He's my best friend Draco. Nothing more, nothing less. There's nothing going on between us." Draco grumbled softly, turning his attention back to his breakfast. Hermione returned to her conversation with Theo, only pausing when the mail arrived and a gorgeous black owl swooped down to land in front of her, holding out it's leg for her to take the letter it was carrying.

She took it, giving the bird a few pieces of bacon before watching it fly off. Her attention turned to the letter, which bore the Black family crest.

"Who's it from?" Draco leaned over slightly to look at the unopened letter, curiosity written all over his face. Hermione frowned slightly at the letter and popped the wax seal with her thumbnail. Only two people she knew would send a letter sealed with the Black crest, but she was sure Sirius would have sent a letter to Harry before sending one to her, which narrowed the list down to one other person, Pandora. A quick scan of the writing and the signature proved her suspicion to be true.

"It's from Pandora."

"What does it say?"

"I don't know, I haven't read it yet." Draco flinched back at the annoyance in Hermione's tone, making her give him an apologetic smile before she turned back to the letter.

 _Dearest Hermione,_

 _I hope school is going well for you and that your House and name change are causing too much trouble for you._

 _I have written this letter to inform you, and your brother, that Lucius intends to find a way to divorce Narcissa. I have pleaded against this course of action due to the stigma divorce carries amongst Pureblood families but your father is quite stubborn, some times I believe he should have been a Gryffindor... Please don't tell him I told you that, it may hurt his fragile male feelings. I have a plan I place to see to it that my cousin will not be affected negatively by any sort of marriage dissolution, but I must ask that you keep this between you and I for the moment. I don't believe Lucius truly cares that Cissa will be affected harshly by his decision to divorce her, and truly I can not blame him. Narcissa is not the most loving person and I loathe to think what Draco's life must have been like with her as his mother. I will be speaking with him as soon as you both get home, and if he is amenable to it, I will be performing a blood adoption rite to make him my son and remove any claim my cousin has to him._

 _Do let me know if anyone is giving you a hard time, I have no qualms about making an appearance at the school to deal with it._

 _With love,_

 _Pandora_

"She wanted to let us know that Lucius is planning on divorcing your mother and that if you want she's willing to perform a blood adoption so Narcissa can't take you away from them." Hermione folded the letter up and hid it within the pocket of her robe as she looked at Draco. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open slightly.

"She... she..." He stopped and swallowed harshly, taking a shuddering breath, "She would be willing to perform a blood adoption?"

"That's what she said, so long as you would be willing." Hermione's brows furrowed slightly, why did he seem so shocked that her mother would adopt him. Her gaze switched to Blaise and then to Theo. Both had similar looks of shock on their faces. "What's so shocking about that?" Theo cleared his throat and went into tutor mood, something he had been doing a lot to help Draco teach Hermione about Pureblood culture.

"Well, even though Draco is younger than you it makes him a Scion of the House of Black."

"Wait, Narcissa is part of the Black family, doesn't that already make him a Scion?" Theo nodded,

"Yes, but Orion Black was the last Head of the family, so those directly descended from him are the direct Heirs. Meaning Pandora and Sirius Black hold the most claim to the family fortune. Thus their children hold the most claim to the title. You said when Sirius was exonerated he performed a blood adoption of Harry right? So he wouldn't have to return to his muggle relatives?" At Hermione's nod Theo continued, "Right now as Sirius is the Head of the Black family that makes Harry the primary Heir to the Black Lordship, You would be the secondary Heir, meaning if anything happened to Potter you would claim the Lordship, Draco wouldn't be able to claim it unless something happened to both you and Harry. With a blood adoption then Draco would be biologically related to the main Black branch. As of right now it wouldn't change anything, but once Pandora was legally recognized as amongst the living and took over as the family Head, you would be the primary Heir, Draco the secondary and Potter the tertiary."

"And Pandora is only able to claim the Head of House position because she's the oldest right?"

"Yes, if she wasn't and your uncle was still alive she would actually be the tertiary heir because she's female." Hermione frowned slightly at that but nodded, while she didn't agree with that, she knew at this point in time there was nothing she could do to change it, for now.

"Hermione... could you meet me in the old DADA room? I need to talk to you in private." Draco's words were slightly hesitant, immediately putting his sister on guard.

"Of course, just let me finish eating." He nodded and stood from the table, Theo and Blaise's gazes followed after him before turning to the curly headed blonde. The both of them had a general idea of the conversation that would be following between the siblings, they only hoped Hermione would be able to forgive her brother for his transgressions against her.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"Siri?" Pandora hesitated in the doorway of her younger brother's study, worrying a strand of hair between her fingers.

"Dora?" Sirius looked up, his smile slipping off his face as he looked up to see his normally confident elder sister standing at the door to his study like a child afraid to get scolded, "What's wrong Dora?" She took a deep breath and glided into the room, sinking gracefully into the chair across from his desk.

"Siri... I need you to do me a huge favor..."

"Anything Pandora... you know that."

"Wait until you hear what it is before you make promises." Sirius rolled his eyes and pinned his sister with a look he perfected from their father,

"Dora, I don't care what it is, if it is in my power to give it to you then I'll do everything I can to get it for you."

"I need you to dissolve Narcissa's marriage to Lucius. I know you don't like him, but he is planning on getting a magical divorce and you know what that will do to Cissa's standing amongst the Purebloods." The words came out in a rush, as though she hoped that saying them faster would make it harder for her to back down.

"Why not do it yourself after I finish bringing you back from the dead legally and hand the Lordship over to you?"

"Seriously? You do realize how bad that will look on me when I turn around and marry Lucius right after dissolving the marriage between him and my cousin?" Sirius shrugged and leaned back slightly in his chair, a mischievous glint in his eyes, "I know that look Sirius, this is no time for jokes!" Her face began to flush with frustration when he laughed softly and leaned forward again, grey eyes sparkling with mirth.

"Don't worry about it Dora. It, and the dissolution of Bellatrix's marriage to LeStrange are both already in the works." Pandora frowned slightly and tilted her head,

"Why are you dissolving Bella's marriage to Roddy? He and Bastan are good men."

"They're Death Eaters Dora."

"So are Bella, Cissa, and Lucius... So was I."

"You never took the Mark." Pandora threw her hands up and shook her head slightly.

"I would have. In a heartbeat. But I had Hermione to worry about so I ran instead. At one point in time Voldemort was just as much my Lord as he is any other Death Eater's. You were the only white sheep in the family little brother, do not mistake my change of heart for something it is not."

"You would have willingly followed that monster?" She huffed and took the seat across from him once again, having vacated it in a moment of frustration.

"Siri, you must understand that to me, to us. He wasn't a monster, yes he punished his followers for messing up royally, but... He was extremely charismatic, he knew how to work a crowd and he played to what many of the old Pureblood families wanted, purity. So yes, I would have followed him while he was still just the charismatic man I met at one of father's dinner parties. It took two years of me being enslaved to him to realize what a monster he was." Sirius stared at her with an unreadable expression for a few moments before nodding to himself, causing Pandora's brows to furrow in question.

"Fine, I won't dissolve Bella's marriage at this current point in time," He held up a finger when Pandora grinned and opened her mouth to thank him, "Provided, you can provide me proof that the LeStrange brothers truly are good men. They and Bella have a lot to answer for, including the fact that they seemingly willingly tortured the Longbottoms to insanity."

"Alright Sirius, so long as you promise me one thing, you keep the Lordship until I get that proof." Sirius smiled and nodded,

"It's a deal Dora. Narcissa's marriage should be dissolved by this weekend, it was a very binding contract and is taking quite a bit of Family magic to burn the contract. Though it might make you happy to hear this but your contract with Lucius was never destroyed, I'm shocked it even allowed Lucius' marriage to Narcissa, though I have a feeling you had a part in that."

"I made it seem as though it had been destroyed and used family magic to change it around a bit so that Lucius would have a change at happiness, in case I was unable to return ever." Pandora blushed slightly, despite everything, she had made sure both Lucius and Hermione had the best chance she could give them, even if it hadn't turned out great for either of them, she had tried.

 _ **A/N: Sooooo... I started this chapter on the 31st of May, and I meant to complete it that day as well but I didn't have much time to do so, then my sister came down two days later and I didn't have a lot of time to type at all. And just the past Saturday I moved, and I don't just mean I moved from one house to the next, I took an 11 hour drive from Kentucky to Maryland to spend time with my Grandmother and my sister. It's been rough and nerve wracking but I've finally gotten everything together, I'm still searching for a job but it hasn't even been a week that I've been up here yet so fingers crossed I get one soon. Anyway, hopefully chapter seven will be out much sooner!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: Hello guys! Chapter Seven here, yay! So I got a guest review that was a little interesting, and I totally would have responded to them privately, but I can't reply to guest reviewers. Now, they did two reviews, I think, they were written very similarly so I believe both reviews to be the same person. No Hermione's resorting was not completely necessary, but I'm trying to not kill Ron in this story so she needed to be out of Gryffindor for that to remain possible. As for Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan, I have plans for the three of them, otherwise they would be condemned as well. Don't worry darlings, I have plans, many... many plans... *evil laughter***_

 _ **Chapter Seven:**_

Harry approached the Slytherin table hesitantly, despite being Hermione's best friend, he wasn't sure if he would be welcomed among the Snakes.

"Harry!" The wild blonde curls that marked his best friend shot up as she noticed him and ran to hug him, "You didn't get into trouble because of Ronald did you?" Harry flushed as he hugged her back and then stepped quickly away in the face of the glares her brother was sending him.

"Uh... no, no I didn't. McGonagal stripped Ron of his Prefect status and basically told the Headmaster that if he didn't let her give it to me she would quit. Apparently she tried to give it to me in the first place and Dumbledore vetoed her."

"That's great Harry! Oh... who's the new female Prefect?"

"Parvati I believe. She looked really relieved when McGonagal announced that I was new male Prefect." Hermione beamed at her best friend and hugged him again, shooting a quick warning glare at her brother from over her shoulder. Over the past few days the two of them had become quite close, especially after they had been able to talk everything out earlier that morning, but that didn't mean that Draco and Harry were quite on good terms yet.

 _~Earlier that Morning~_

 _Hermione sat down gingerly and turned her gaze to her brother, nervously brushing her unruly curls away from her face._

" _Er..." Draco wrung his hands together, making Hermione frown. This was obviously the conversation the both of them had been dreading since finding out they were related, what other reason would Draco have for being so uncharacteristically nervous._

" _You know, with everything you put me through over the past five years, I really should hate you. It should be nearly impossible for me to even_ _ **think**_ _about forgiving you." She started, deciding to put everything on the table. "You were horrible, to me, to my friends. It was almost as though Harry and I's existence was below your own. You repeatedly came after me, in word and deed..." She sighed and looked down at her hands where they were folded in her lap. "But..."_

" _I'm sorry." Her head snapped up and her eyes locked with Draco's. Of everything she had expected from this conversation, an actual apology was not one of them. Excuses, asking for her forgiveness, those she expected, but never did she consider that her brother would lower himself to actually apologize to her. For a moment the both of them were frozen, staring at each other with near identical looks of shock on their faces, obviously Draco hadn't meant for those words to escape his lips._

 _Draco took a shuddering breath and launched into his apology._

" _I was truly horrible to you, and I do sincerely apologize for everything I ever said or did to you. I was way out of line..." He opened his mouth to say more, but Hermione held up a hand, cutting him off._

" _Horrible to me? Draco, every single muggle-born who has had the misfortune of crossing your path is either terrified of you or would curse you in the back if they felt they could get away with it. Yes, I got the brunt of your dislike because of my friendship with Harry, but I am not the only one you need to apologize to. Tell me honestly, if it were not for the fact that you have undeniable proof that I am you sister would you even be bothering with this conversation? Or would I still just be Potter's mudblood?" Draco froze, realizing that no, if it weren't for the fact that he knew she was his sister, he wouldn't be having this conversation with her. She would still just be the brains behind the so-called Golden Trio._

 _He glanced up when he heard her laugh softly. A broken, bitter sound. Her lips were twisted up in a bitter smile as she shook her head slowly, sending her platinum curls swinging around her face._

" _That's the only answer I needed. Draco, I understand that you were raised to hate those of "lesser" blood status than you, but you need to understand that; pureblood, half-blood, muggle-born, none of that matters when it comes to magical prowess. Harry is a half-blood, raised by muggles, and he is better than every student in this school at DADA. I have the highest scores in our year group, and up until four days ago I was a muggle-born. Not that my blood status matters anyway because I was raised by muggles. I had no knowledge of the magical world before I was eleven."_

" _But you're still pureblood." Draco mumbled half-heartedly._

" _It doesn't matter Draco! You're pureblood too, but you barely manage to stay in the middle level of our classes, with the exception of Potions because Professor Snape shows too much favoritism, because you don't try. You expect everything to be handed to you because of your blood status and last name! I know you could do so much better than you do, you are smart..." Hermione took a deep breath before she went off on a tangent about his grades. She let the breath out slowly and reigned in her magic, having not noticed that it was crackling in the air around her until she forced herself to step back and breathe. "Sorry... got off topic."_

" _But you're right. I do expect to have everything handed to me because of who I am. It's how I was raised. I was raised to expect to be given the best just because I was pureblood, and a Malfoy. I've never had to work for anything in my life... On top of that, anyone who was less than pure was no more than dirt. Muggle-borns were less than dirt and muggles themselves were no more than animals, but none of that was our father. All of that was my mother. Father wasn't around much and he told me to listen to my mother to keep myself safe. Black's aren't known for their sanity or for actually caring about their children... So... I am truly sorry for being so horrible to you over the past few years, and for being a total git to every other muggle-born who happened to cross my path. I can't promise to change immediately, but I will do my best to get better..." Draco glanced down, unable to meet his sister's eyes. He knew that blaming his mother might not work, though it was the truth, Hermione wasn't known for being forgiving._

" _I can't blame you for how you were raised... I do blame you for not having a mind of your own... buuut... I forgive you. You have to promise me though you really will work on getting better, and you won't call anyone a mudblood anymore." Draco looked up from his feet and grinned at his sister._

" _I promise."_

 _~End Flashback~_

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Narcissa pulled harshly at the blonde strands covering her head. She could feel the marriage bond between her and Lucius dissolving, but she couldn't figure out how it was happening. Her lips pulled back from her teeth as she straightened her spine and pushed the feeling out of her mind. She had to figure out a way to get both Pandora and her bastard spawn alone so she could remove them from the picture. Hopefully it could be done before the bond dissolved completely, otherwise there would be no point in her even continuing on her quest to keep Lucius.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"Bella?" The dark haired witch stared blankly out the window of the mansion she, her husband, and her brother-in-law were staying in. Her mind was elsewhere, deep within herself as she followed a thin, weak link to somewhere unknown. "Bella." Rodolphus placed his hand on his wife's shoulder gingerly, slightly fearful of what the unstable witch's reaction to his touch would be.

Grey eyes blinked slightly and Bellatrix turned to her husband as she came back to herself,

"Yes Roddy?" The eldest LeStrange brother jerked away from his wife, his dark eyes wide with shock. That nickname hadn't fallen from his wife's lips in almost sixteen years. Not since Pandora had passed from the world so suddenly.

"Are you alright dear?" A shiver ran down his spine as his wife grinned at him happily. Years of being _Crucioed_ and under the Imperious curse had destroyed his once sweet wife's mind, meaning that look was something many feared.

"I'm completely fine Roddy... I need to go visit Pandora." Rodolphus hazarded a glance over his shoulder at his brother who just shrugged as though to tell him she was his wife, he neede to find a way to fix her.

"Bella... Dora's been dead for sixteen years dear. She wasn't even buried because no one could find her body..." Bellatrix shook her head and her smile widened, turning into a look of pure joy.

"No Roddy... She's not dead. I saw her, at the Ministry. She saved my cousin from... oh... I can't remember what she save Siri from... That's odd. Perhaps it was Dolohov... he went after the Granger girl... and... Oh! Hermione is Dora's daughter!" Bella wracked her brain as she tried to remember why Pandora had to save Sirius, but it wouldn't come to her...

 _ **A/N: I know it's short guys sorry! It's currently almost one a.m and I have eight and a half hours before a Navy recruiter comes to take me to Richmond, VA so I can go through M. . If I pass everything it will be two to six months until I'm shipped off to boot camp. I'm sincerely hoping it will only be two moths because I'll most likely be shipped off to Annapolis or Chicago... Both of which are freaking cold in the winter... I'm from Florida, if it get below fifty degrees Fahrenheit I freeze! Anyway, my next few chapters will probably be shorter so I can get more of them out before I get shipped off, as per my mother's request. As always, I heart all of your faces and please R &R!**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: It's been a bit since I've posted and I'm sorry for that. Life has been a bit, well a lot, hectic lately. The Navy PDQ'd me so I switched over to the Army, and now they're having difficulty getting my paperwork and medical files from the Navy Database... yay... oh, was there too much sarcasm in that? Military hoops, I hate them, but I'm too stubborn to back down now so I'm just going to have to grit my teeth and bear it... Any way, I don't know how often chapters will be out from now on, life just keeps throwing curve balls at me so I've gotta try to keep trying to hit them, sadly that doesn't leave much time for my stories. For those of you how have followed and favorited HPatLoBF, that story may be another few months before I can figure out where it's going. My muse for it has taken quite the vacation, and by muse I mean my lovely mother is much more interested in this story and wants me to write it instead. XOXO Mum!**_

 _ **Chapter Eight:**_

Narcissa curled against the wall of her private bedroom, her fingers tangled in the mess of long blonde hair that hung around her gaunt face in limp dirty curtains, she had been reading in the sun room three days ago when she felt the marriage bond between her and Lucius snap. She hadn't moved except to use the bathroom to relieve herself and when her personal house elf all but forced food and drink down her throat. A ragged breath hitched in her throat, drawing a wince as the air seemed to catch on every raw part of it. She hadn't been able to stop crying the first day, which made her eyes feel as though she had purposely rubbed sand, or ground up glass into them. Her throat felt as though acid had been poured down it and her chest was so tight that it was difficult to even get the painful breaths she so longed for.

"Narcissa?" She blinked slowly as the deep voice registered and she turned towards her bedroom door,

"Cissy, please come out." a primal rage welled within her chest as the lilting feminine voice of her eldest cousin floated gently through the door; unknowingly rattling the bars of the cage that held back the Black insanity encroaching on Narcissa's fragile mind.

"Go away..." She had meant for the words to come out strong but they passed her lips as a whisper, the barest breath of sound.

"Cissa I'm coming in." the bars rattled again and the blonde glared at the door as it inched open, "Cissa..." Pandora's face twisted with pity, rattling the cage again. She had no right to pity her, this was _her fault!_ Narcissa's mind screamed at her, but her broken heart wouldn't let her move except to wrap her arms around herself in a hug, as though to keep herself together. "Come on Cissa, let's get you a bath..."

Narcissa didn't fight the older woman as she gently pushed her into a warm bath and began to gently scrub away the grime of not moving for three days straight. She didn't fight as she was dried off thoroughly and her hair was wrapped tightly in a self drying wrap. She didn't fight as she was draped in a fluffy cotton robe. She didn't fight anything until Pandora stepped out of the room, allowing the door to open wide enough for her to see the concerned look on her husband's face. _Ex-husband,_ her mind whispered viciously, _and it's all her fault!_

A strangled cry escaped Narcissa's throat, and a spell of sickly yellow-green flew from her wand and slammed into her cousin brutally, knocking into Lucius who barely caught her before her body slumped to the ground. Narcissa's eyes widened slightly before a slightly manic giggle tumbled from her lips.

"What did you do to her?!" Narcissa shrank away from Lucius, his fury was palpable in the air around him, and his normally stormy grey eyes were molten silver.

"She shouldn't have touched what wasn't hers Luci... Now she'll burn, starting with the first place she touched you." Narcissa swayed on her feet, her eyes shifting between terrified and maliciously happy. She was so caught up in her pride at what she had done she didn't realize that Lucius had started barking orders at his house elves and she found herself outside the Malfoy wards with all her things. Blinking slowly she let a slow grin spread across her face before apparating to a little house that she owned herself to lay low until her thieving bitch of a cousin succumbed to her curse.

 _ **x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**_

The burning had started at her fingertips and was slowly beginning to consume her entirely. It felt as though someone had injected her with Basilisk venom, or acid.

"Dora! Pandora, please, listen to me... trying... out... stay..." She strained to hear what Lucius was saying but the pain was too much. She whimpered and began clawing at her burning arm, hoping beyond hope she could stop it if she could just... reach...

A frustrated growl escaped her throat as it dawned on her that she had been restrained. The fog of pain faded enough for her to wrack her brain for as to why this curse seemed so familiar, flashes of memories flooded her mind's eye and she caught Bella's face and it dawned on her just as the pain returned with a vengeance, and she heard a grating noise echoing in her head. Minutes went by before she realized it was her own voice screaming.

She gasped for breath as the pain faded again, her throat was sore now, but she was grateful for the brief relief because it allowed her to get her message across to Lucius.

"Bella... get... Bella..." And then the pain consumed her again and she was lost beneath the tidal wave of agony

 _ **x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**_

Lucius and Sirius both turned to look at the dark haired witch strapped to a bed in the Spell Damage ward of Saint Mungo's, the only thing they had heard from her in the past week was agonized screams, both Draco and Hermione had nearly started crying, well, Hermione had actually started crying at the sight and sound of her biological mother in such pain, but even Draco's eyes had been misty as he pulled his sister out of the room.

"What did she say?" Sirius asked, standing from his chair, wincing as the screams started again. Lucius slumped dejectedly against the walls when the screams started again.

"She said to get Bella."

"What?!"

"This curse must be in the Black Matriarch's spellbook, which means only Bellatrix, Narcissa and Pandora can touch it."

"What about Dromeda? Or Hermione? They aren't wanted for murder!"

"Andromeda was blasted off the Black family tree, and thus can't even touch the book, Hermione is... she's too young to be able to access that curse I'm guessing. Look, Pandora asked for Bellatrix for a reason, so I'm going to send her a Patronus and you will just have to deal with it." Sirius looked ready to blow up at the blonde when the older man leveled him with a weary glare and sighed, "Do you want your sister to die? Just after you got her back?"

Sirius deflated at those words, casting a glance at the writhing woman in the bed. Silencing charms had gone up as soon as the screams started again, but even with them Sirius could tell that Pandora wouldn't last long if they didn't get help soon.

"Fine... Make sure she knows to hide herself well, and Rodolphus too, those two are attached at the bloody hip." As he spoke he brushed his fingers over the bandages that had, in the beginning, only covered her hand and wrist, but as the days turned to weeks the burns crept up her arm and across her chest, the Healer's were concerned about possible internal damage, but her thrashing had been so bad she broke through every immobilization spell they cast on her, which was when they had resorted to the thick dragonhide straps that now kept her from injuring herself with her movement. Sirius vaguely heard Lucius sending off a frantic Patronus to the woman that Sirius had once considered his most dangerous and volatile cousin, now that honor had fallen to her youngest sister.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

" _Bella... Please Pandora needs your help, she.. she asked for you. Narcissa cursed her with something from the Black Matriarch's tome. We're in Saint Mungo's. Room 406 in the Spell Damage ward, hurry please, she won't last much longer. Remember to hide."_ Bella stared at the spot Lucius's Patronus had disappeared before her face twisted in rage.

"I'm going to fucking kill her!" Her husband and brother-in-law stared at her in concern,

"Pandora?"

"Narcissa." She spat before casting a quick transfiguration on her hair and eyes and apparating to the apparation point within Saint Mungo's, leaving behind two shocked men.

 _ **A/N: Soooooo... this is a little longer than I expected. It started flowing really well as I started and that makes me happy. Now you guys can kind of get a brief glance at what I'm going to do with the LeStrange trio, and a little bit of how far Narcissa has fallen, she's not done though. Which will be fun hopefully. As always R &R and until next time enjoy!**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: So, here's chapter nine, not much of an update from yesterday, or well early this morning when I wrote chapter eight, so we'll get right to the story.**_

 _ **Chapter Nine:**_

Hermione sat silently in the Slytherin common room, her eyes misted over and full of unshed tears. Draco, Blaise, and Theo spoke quietly amongst themselves, casting worried glances at the silent witch every few minutes.

"She's been like this since we left the hospital, not a word, and she stopped crying before we got back to the school. I don't understand, I didn't think she even liked Pandora all that much." Draco bit his lip and cast another glance at his sister, who continued to stay curled up in her little ball, staring at the crackling fire.

"She has some sort of emotional connection to your cousin obviously. And honestly Draco, the girl is a Gryffindor at heart."

"Seeing anyone in that sort of pain must have been horrible." Blaise looked at the silent witch and sighed softly, they had been trying to figure out a way to pull the blonde from her funk but no one had any viable ideas. It didn't help that despite getting along with them fairly well, none of them really knew her.

Theo's eyes lit up with an idea and a slight smile curved his lips,

"Draco, we don't know her all that well!"

"Obviously, if we did we wouldn't be stuck here staring at her, trying to figure out what the bloody hell to do!" Theo rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly,

" _We_ don't know her, but _Potter_ does! I bet he would know how to pull her from this." Draco groaned and cradled his head in his hands for a few moments before letting out a defeated sigh.

"You're right. He probably would, but we would have to figure out how to get in the Lion's Den and get him out of there, and then get him down here. Severus and Professor McGonagal are going to have major fits about it."

"Unless we went to them with the problem. Gr- Black was a lion, and McGonagal favors her cubs, it's no secret that the "Golden Trio" minus Weasley of course, are her favorite cubs. She'd do anything for Black. And Professor Snape wouldn't let one of his Snakes be in this situation if he could help it, no matter how much he hates Potter, if he can help then Snape will approve of it." Draco couldn't help but be the slightest bit thankful that Theo was as smart as he was, he and Blaise would have just figured out how to sneak into the Lion's Den and get Potter out, then sneak him into the Snake Pit. Which most likely would have resulted in major loss of points to both Houses and detentions.

The three of them stood and began heading out before Draco froze completely and turned back to Hermione. Most of Slytherin still hated the former Gryffindor, which meant that she was vulnerable in her current state,

"One of us has to stay here." Blaise and Theo both nodded and the three of them began arguing about who it should be, all of them wanted to stay, but they all wanted to make sure the correct points got across to the Professors.

"All of you go, Tori and I will make sure no one hurts her while you're gone." The three boys blinked when the soft voice of Daphne Greengrass interrupted their argument. The two blonde sisters stood beside each other as they faced the trio.

Draco weighed their options, on one hand they would continue arguing for the next hour if they didn't decide immediately, which meant they would have to accept the Greengrass's proposal. On the other hand, Draco wasn't sure if he could trust the two purebloods with his sister's safety, true neither of the girls had been hateful or mean to her like Pansy or Millicent, but they were also fairly high up in the food chain amongst Pureblood society and that meant they knew how to mask they emotions and motives.

Theo could see the war going on in Draco, deny the girls and continue arguing about who should stay, or trust the two witches with Hermione's safety.

"Draco, it'll be fine, if they say they'll make sure no one hurts her then that's what they'll do. It also means they won't hurt her either because that would be going back on their word and you know it, now come on before we get in trouble for being out after curfew." Draco paused again before leaving with the other two,

"Thank you." Daphne and Astoria smiled at him and sat down next to Hermione, who didn't move or flinch until Daphne wrapped a slender arm around her shoulders and tugged the stiff girl to her side, carding her fingers through the silky curls cascading down her back.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Bellatrix made her way through the busy hospital quickly and quietly, making sure she looked like she had a purpose so no one would stop her on her way to her cousin's room, a few people did a double take but seemingly wrote her off as she passed them, and made her way to the Spell Damage ward. Rage and fear churned in her chest, on one hand she wanted to hunt Narcissa down and make her suffer for breaking her Vow, a vow she obviously faked. On the other her magic was screaming at her to fix Pandora because she was her's and she needed her.

The crazy witch took a deep breath and steeled herself as she walked into her cousin's room, mentally preparing for the worse. The scene in the room made her stop in the doorway and blink rapidly, wondering if Azkaban had affected her more than she originally thought. Sirius and Lucius were sitting in the same room, no wands were drawn and they seemed to be having a civil conversation.

"I know Azkaban exacerbated the Black madness but even I'm not crazy to imagine this." The two men turned towards her, their eyes going wide with shock and surprise.

"Yes, well my sister is being burned alive from the inside out because yours lost her bloody mind. It puts a little bit of perspective on certain things." Bellatrix raised a brow and stepped over to the bed, studying her cousin as she writhed and screamed silently. "They had to put up a few layers of strong silencing charms because she was disturbing the rest of the hospital." The witch frowned a did a few scans of her cousin, trying to get a lock of the specific curse that Narcissa had used.

Lucius and Sirius watched silently as Bella continued to frown and cast diagnostic charms on the younger woman. Maybe it was stupid of them to hope that the unstable witch could do anything to help Pandora, but they had to hold on to hope. The Healers had told them that they should be preparing to hold a funeral within the next few weeks; They were trying their best but it wasn't looking too great, none of them were familiar with the curse and none of the generic counter curses were working to stop or even slow it down.

"Well?" Lucius was the first one to snap as the tension in the room thickened when Bella didn't speak. The dark haired witch sided softly and stepped away from her eldest cousin, turning to Lucius and Sirius.

"It is, or was, a family curse. But Narcissa's emotional state has changed it somehow, made it far darker than it was originally. The original curse causes mild burns on the hands, like an irritating sunburn, and a slight stinging sensation anywhere the witch on the receiving end touched whoever it was they shouldn't have in the eyes of the caster. It's only supposed to last a few days, but this... There is no counter curse for this. Only Narcissa would be able to break it easily." Sirius slumped in his chair, his face drawn and pinched with emotions, grey eyes shining with unshed tears. Lucius grit his teeth and shut his eyes,

"You're telling us there's no way to cure her unless we can get Narcissa to remove the curse." His voice was like death as he opened his eyes and glared at Bella. The witch grinned and shook her head,

"I said only Narcissa would be able to reverse the curse easily. If I could get together three witches of the Black family together we could crack the curse in a few weeks, days if they were magically mature."

"Bella... You and Hermione are the only two females other than Pandora and Narcissa that carry Black blood, and Hermione isn't magically mature." Bellatrix's grin widened as she shook her head.

"That's were you're wrong Siri," Sirius jolted at the use of his childhood nickname, his gaze fell on his cousin and he blinked slightly as he realized that Pandora must be her Anchor, it would explain as to why the Black madness' hold seemed to be weakening on the witch, "Andromeda and her daughter both have Black blood, and if I've heard correctly, Nymphadora graduated from Hogwarts four or five years ago. They both fit the bill."

"Andromeda and Tonks, aren't part of the family though, she was blasted off the tapestry when she married Ted."

"Reinstate her into the family, Nymphadora will be automatically added to the family tapestry and I'll have the people I need, for now, until that gets done, Pandora needs to be put into a stasis charm and taken to a Black family property."

"How are we even going to get her out of here?" Lucius snapped, his temper ruling as his eyes stayed locked on the dying woman he loved.

"Sirius is her Head of House, and a Lord, he can get her out of here without any problems. Send me a Patronus when you get everything done, make sure the stasis charm is strong and recast it regularly while Andy, Nymphadora, and I are working on a counter curse for this." With that she left the room and made her way to the apparation point inside the hospital. She would wait until Dora was cured to hunt Narcissa down, the younger woman would definitely want revenge for being cursed so violently.

Lucius and Sirius were left staring after the wild-haired woman in shock. It took them a few moments before they broke out of it and looked at each other,

"She seems..."

"Saner?"

"I was going to say more like she was when Pandora, her, and I were all in school together, but saner works as well." Lucius stood, casting a glance at Pandora's writhing body and wincing slightly before turning back to the younger man, "As you are her Head of House and she and I did not get the chance to marry before my ex-wife cursed her, the next few tasks are for you and you alone, I should send letters to my children to let them know there may be some hope yet."

"Is that a good idea?"

"Perhaps not, but Draco says Hermione has barely moved since seeing her mother like this, so perhaps some hope will help her." Sirius frowned but couldn't deny the logic in the blonde's words.

 _ **A/N: So, I have a job now. Yay! Also I can't do the Navy or the Army but so long as I drop fifteen pounds and pass some tests the Marines will take me so yay on that as well! See you guys with chapter ten! Until then R &R.**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N: I've gone to the gym for the past six days and I'm taking a break from it today. Instead, I'm giving you guys chapter ten. As usual I'm sequestered in a corner at Starbucks, sadly its not my usual one, and I must say I miss everyone at my old store, but that's alright cause I'll make friends up here too. I sat down to type this not a day after finishing Chapter Nine and I have completely forgotten what the hell happened and I'm the one who wrote the damned thing. As always, my unofficial Beta is my mum, Catmau, who despite living eleven hours away still lets me call her and bounce ideas off her. Love ya mum! On to Chapter Ten... right after I go reread what I wrote for Chapter Nine...**_

 _ **Chapter Ten:**_

Hermione barely noticed when Daphne pulled her nearly into her lap and began running her nails through the riotous curls, gently tugging the knots out of them. Her mind was at the hospital where her mother lay writhing in agony from a curse that no one knew how to break. Her heart hurt when she thought about what the Healers had said. She had just gotten her mother back; she was just beginning to get to know her, and now it looked like some jealous witch was going to take that chance away from her. A witch that Pandora had done everything in her power to make sure she would still be accepted in Pureblood society after her marriage to Lucius had been dissolved.

Anger welled up in Hermione's chest, burning through her, making her magic crackle a swirl around her. Trapping her and Daphne in a whirlwind of power.

"Hermione!" The other blonde gasped and shook her shoulder harshly, trying to draw her from her mind. The Black Heiress blinked and looked at the older pureblood, she could see the worry shining clearly in her bright blue eyes. A slight shake of her head brought Hermione back to the present, allowing her to reign her magic in.

"Sorry..." She looked around and frowned when she saw that her brother was nowhere to be found, "Where's..."

"Draco, Blaise and Theo went to see if they could get Professors McGonagal and Snape to let Potter down here in an attempt to pull you out of the funk you've been in. What was that?" Daphne had not let go of the younger witch, and Hermione saw no need to pull away from the comfort she was offering.

"I... I got angry because Narcissa was too jealous of my mother to see that she had done everything to help her out in this situation, and now because of that jealousy my mother is dying. It's not fair." Tear leaked from silvery pools of grey as Hermione buried her face in her hands and began to sob. Daphne pulled Hermione closer and stroked her hair gently, shushing her softly as she let the girl cry into her shoulder. Were this any other pureblood princess Daphne would have sneered and told them to suck it up, but Hermione's entire life had been uprooted and turned upside down, she knew nothing about the Pureblood Society or how to act within it, to top it off her mother had just been violently cursed and from what she had overheard Draco telling Theo and Blaise, it wasn't looking so good.

Daphne began to hum the lullaby her mother used to sing to her and Tori when they were younger, before her father had told them it was time to be proper Pureblood Heiresses, which meant no more lullabies, and hours of long boring lessons on how to act and what to say. She was still humming and rocking the younger witch as Tori kept watch, her wand out and at the ready should anyone approach, when a group of six burst into the dungeon, four students and two Professors stopped dead at the sight before them. One stepped forward, glasses slightly askew from running all the way down there after hearing the news about his best friend.

"'Mione?" Hermione's head lifted slightly to look at her best friend. Daphne let her go as a soft pained cry escaped the witch and she launched herself at the Gryffindor, loud heart wrenching sobs tearing from her chest as she hugged him tightly.

Harry wrapped his arms around her and slowly sank to the plush green carpet that covered the floor of the common room. "Mione... Your mum is going to fine. She's tough, she'll pull through."

"But the Healers..."

"Damn the Healers Hermione! Pandora is a Black, there made of stuff tougher than dragonhide! She'll pull through, Sirius and Malfoy won't give up on her, not after just getting her back. Have faith." Hermione sniffled and pulled back to look at the dark haired boy. His eyes were shining fiercely as he looked at her. She took a deep breath and nodded shakily,

"You're right. She'll pull through. She promised to meet my adoptive parents, and Blacks don't go back on their promises." Hermione smiled shakily and hugged Harry a little tighter, mumbling a soft thank you into his neck.

"You're welcome 'Mione. I'm here for you anytime you need me. Just... Don't shut down on us like that again."

"I promise." Harry smirked slightly at her choice of words,

"Just remember that. Black's don't go back on their promises." Hermione returned his smirk and stood, reaching down to help Harry to his feet.

Draco sighed in relief to see his sister back to normal. For half a second upon entering the common room he had thought going through the trouble of getting Potter had been unnecessary, but when she launched herself from Daphne's lap into the Scarhead's arms he breathed a little easier, thankful that Theo had suggested getting the Boy-Who-Lived.

Daphne smiled at the scene before her, barely registering the twinge of jealousy in her chest when Hermione had left her to go to the wizard. Shaking her head she stood and left the common room for her dorm, there was no need for her to be jealous. Hermione would never return the feelings that had been building since they had been paired in Ancient Runes in third year. She was destined to be with Harry, it seemed so obvious with the way they acted around each other.

Hermione looked around for the blonde witch who had comforted her before Harry had come into the room, frowning when there was no sign of her.

"Where did Daphne go?" She asked aloud, seemingly to no one but it was Astoria that answered the question,

"She went to her dorm, something about homework and needing to get to sleep early tonight." The younger of the Greengrass sisters covered quickly for the elder. She had seen the slightly pained look on her face when she left and decided it was probably best to keep Hermione away from her for the moment.

"Oh... I was going to thank her for helping me."

"I'll let her know, I'm glad you're feeling better Black. See you tomorrow." Tori couldn't help the harshness in her voice. She knew her sister's inclinations to the fairer sex, she also knew that Daphne had feelings for Hermione, and though she couldn't blame the blonde for whether or not she felt the same, she couldn't help feeling a little bitter for her sister, having to watch Hermione turn to Harry for comfort when Daphne had been doing just fine before the Gryffindor had invaded the Snake Pit.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Andromeda stared at her cousin in shock as she and her daughter sat in the younger wizard's home office.

"Say that again?" Sirius sighed softly and put his head in his hands before sitting back up and glaring at the older woman.

"I'm reinstating you into the family, partially because you didn't deserve to be burned off the tapestry and I was going to do it anyway, and partially because you and Nymphadora need to be able to access the entirety of the Matriarch's Tome so you can help remove a curse from Pandora."

"Sirius, did Azkaban affect your brain more than we originally thought? Pandora is dead. The tapestry says so. She died sixteen years ago. If she wasn't dead Lucius wouldn't have been able to marry Narcissa, unless..."

"The consummated their bond and conceived a child before Pandora faked her death?"

"If that had happened then any marriage Lucius had would unravel within the first few months..."

"Not unless blood magic was used to alter the contract between Lucius and Pandora, allowing him to take a second wife." Andromeda's brows raised and she began to laugh,

"You can't be serious Cousin. Pandora would never allow Lucius to take a second wife, I think you've cracked completely."

"I am Sirius." That earned him a snort from his younger cousin and a glare from Andromeda, "Look, I know it's difficult to believe but it's true, Pandora is currently suffering under a curse that your sister cast on her, it's burning her alive and if you don't agree to help she really will die within a matter of weeks, possibly days. We're racing against the clock Andy and we need your help, yours and Tonks's." Sirius was close to begging now, bringing Andromeda to the conclusion that he was telling the truth, no self-respecting Black would lower themselves to begging... ever.

"Alright, we'll help. Though since you keep saying we I assume Narcissa is the other third of the trio working to remove this curse, that I'm going to guess Bella put on Pandora." Sirius's face fell and his eyes went flat before flashing with fury,

"Narcissa is the reason that Pandora is cursed, she'd the one who cursed her. Bellatrix is the one who suggested I reinstate you into the family." Andy snorted in a very unladylike way as she waited for Sirius to start laughing the way he did when he told a joke, but the pure fury and anger in the younger man's eyes made her sober up quickly as she stared at him,

"You aren't kidding... What the hell Sirius!? She's crazy, and she was the one who told my mother and father that I was seeing Ted!"

"I didn't mean to get you blasted off the family tapestry. I told them because I was trying to get them to destroy the contract between you and Nott. I... I wanted you to be happy, like Dora was with Lucius, like I was with Roddy..." Andy whirled around and her eyes fell on her eldest sibling, Bella looked different than the last time she had seen her before she was toted off to Azkaban. Her eyes weren't wild a glazed over, she wasn't shaking at all. Her hair was tamed slightly and fell in gentle curls around her shoulders and waist. A tentative and apologetic smile lifted the corners of her lips as she looked between Andy and Nymphadora. "I'm sorry... can you forgive me Andy? Let me get to know my niece?" Tonks stood, her wand clenched in her hand as she stared at the witch in front of her. She had be imprisoned for a reason, then again... so had Sirius, but he was found innocent, perhaps she could give her Aunt the benefit of a doubt.

"Before I agree to this I need to know something," Tonks pointed her wand at the witch, who raised her hands in surrender,

"I'll answer any question to the best of my ability, and swear an Oath that it is true to the best of my knowledge."

"Frank and Alice Longbottom. You, your husband, and your brother-in-law, along with Barty Crouch Junior, tortured them to insanity, why?" Bella's brow furrowed and she seemed to be fighting against something in her memories.

"No... I mean... yes, we tortured them... we didn't want to be punished by the Dark Lord... but except for the muscle spasms they were still sane when we left. Roddy and Bastan had to drag Barty away... He was going to kill the baby... He went back for him and I stunned him, Bastan bound the boy's core and cast a spell on him to make it seem like he was dead, and then while Barty was still stunned we made it seem like the Longbottoms we're locked inside their own heads, but the spells should have worn away after a few hours, unless we accidentally cast them stronger than we meant to. We were rushing... My mind was really fuzzy, Pandora had been dead for almost two years at that point and the Black family curse was beginning to take over. We altered Barty's memories to make it seem like we had tortured them to insanity and had killed the boy. We were caught by Aurors and Barty cursed us all silent, we couldn't even tell the truth under Veritiserum without dying."

"Did you use the torture curse on them?" Bellatrix shuddered and shook her head,

"No, we used a very mild burning curse and used Occulemency to tell them to scream like we were using the torture curse. The curse we used had a similar color to the Cruciatus, so Braty wouldn't suspect. If we hadn't... He would have killed us all..."

"Swear it to me. Swear an Oath on your Magic and Life. Now."

"I swear, on my magic and my life that everything I have told Nymphadora Tonks about the night the Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom were tortured is the truth as I remember it. So I swear, so shall it be." Bellatrix's magic flared around her with her Oath before the glow faded into her skin. Tonks nodded and let her wand drop to her side,

"Alright, I'll help you remove the curse from Pandora." The smile that bloomed across Bellatrix's face made her seem ages younger.

"Wonderful! Let's get started, follow me." Sirius remained seated in his chair behind his desk as the two women followed Bellatrix down to the basement. He had reinstated Andy into the family before asking her to meet him here, so they would be good to get stared immediately, but what kept him seated was the fact that Pandora had been right about the LeStrange trio all along. They were good people, they had put their lives on the line to save the Longbottoms, and curing the two Aurors in the Janus Thickney Ward of Saint Mungos would be easy enough once he managed to get the Ministry to hear his Cousins out.

 _ **A/N: So... We have a little bit of back story for Bella and the other two LeStranges, more may be to come... I'm not saying they're completely innocent, but neither are Pandora and Lucius, they did what they felt they needed to do to survive. Anyway, that's chapter ten, until next time R &R! It makes me write faster... I promise!**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N: I'm starting this chapter not five minutes after posting CH10, its a quarter after 14:00 and I've been sitting here at Starbucks for about four hours, honestly, I'm shocked my grandmother hasn't asked me when I'm coming home or my sister hasn't asked me to come home so she can have her phone back. Anyway, on to Chapter Eleven!**_

 _ **A/N Part Two: I'm sorry about not getting this posted right away guys, I just wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful reviews, both those who have been following this story from the beginning and those who are new to it, I also wanted to mention that Harry and Hermione are NOT going to wind up together, I ship Harmione as much as the next person but that's not where this story is going. I would also like people to stop asking who Harry is going to be paired with, I'm not completely sure if I'm going to pair him with anyone, though I have two possibilities in mind, it depends on which way my muse decides to lean. Thank you all for reading!**_

 _ **Chapter Eleven:**_

Draco and Hermione stared at their father in shock as he sat down across from them at the Slytherin table the day they were due to leave out on the Hogwarts Express.

"Lucius?"

"Father?" They both spoke at the same time, their shock and confusion coloring their tones. The Malfoy Patriarch raised a brow and sneered at the gawking table, making them all turn their attention back to their breakfasts, color flushing their cheeks at being caught staring. The elder blonde could see the questions in his children's faces, and he intended on answering them but not before his wand was out and he cast a very strong silencing charm around the three of them.

Hermione instantly recognized the spell Lucius had cast and frowned, her brain going a mile a minute with all the worst possibilities. Her hands began to shake slightly as tears welled up in her eyes, her heart clenching painfully in her chest. Pandora was dead. The thought repeated over and over again in her head. She was oblivious to the two men trying to calm her down as the table began to shake violently in the tumultuous maelstrom of magic whipping around her.

Lucius was at a loss as to what to do for his daughter, having only seen this happen to Pandora once when Sirius had been put in the infirmary for three weeks because of a "harmless" prank by a few Slytherin Seventh Years. Bellatrix had been called to the school to calm the distraught witch down, but not before the three students that had been the cause of her episode wound up in the infirmary for two months.

"Miss Black!"

"Severus, shut up. Don't draw her attention to you, it could be bad." Lucius slowly stepped away from his daughter to head off his best friend and the Head of Slytherin House. Hermione's eyes were wide and unseeing, damp tracks on her face showed where her tears fell. Draco had backed away from his sister as well and it seemed whatever force surrounding her was not letting her best friend through. Harry looked concerned as he stood next to Draco, backing up when the magical storm expanded slightly.

"What do we do? She's going to magically exhaust herself if this continues!" McGonagall had to shout over the wind whipping through the Great Hall. The Prefects had been instructed to evacuate the Hall and the breakfast would be finished in the Houses respective common rooms.

Daphne found herself struggling against the tide of students rushing from the Great Hall. Her chest ached terribly and whatever was causing it was drawing her to he very room that hundreds of children were pouring from. Tori had come to get her for breakfast earlier, but the older blonde hadn't been able to face Hermione and had refused. When the ache had started in her chest she had ignored it until she felt the pulse of Hermione's magic and the dull ache turned painful. She reached out with her magic, following the thread she didn't even know had been there until right then. Her chest had exploded in pain and she had felt as though she couldn't breathe until she realized that these feelings weren't hers.

"Daph! Black's lost it, it's not safe in there!" The blonde shook her head and tore herself from her younger sister's grasp. She had to get to Hermione! Nearly exploding from the crowd, her blue eyes locked on the gorgeous Malfoy-Black Heiress and her heart ached for the pain she saw in the bottomless pools of silver staring unseeing into space. It took less than a second for her to continue her trek to the Pureblood Princess, the magical storm parting to let her through as Hermione's magic recognized it's chosen anchor.

Daphne once again found herself tearing free of someone's grasp as her Head of House tried to stop her progress to the distraught witch. The storm lashed violently around the five others in the room, pushing them away and pulling the Greengrass Heiress closer. Once within arms reach of Hermione, she wrapped her arms around the silently sobbing girl, tangling long nimble fingers in the riotous blonde curls and burying her face in her shoulder, humming the same lullaby from the night before.

Hermione's reaction was almost instant, the maelstrom vanished as quickly as it started and she collapsed in the older witch's arms, unconscious.

 _ **A/N: Okay, fairly short chapter for content, but it wrote itself and I already have an idea and basis for chapter twelve. Everything about what is going on with Hermione will be explained in the coming chapters and I need to contact my mother to bounce a few ideas off her on where to go from here. Anyway thank you from reading and please review! Virtual biscuits (cookies) for those who do!**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N: So it is Thursday and I have PT in a little more than three hours, I regret nothing.**_

 _ **Good news! After almost two months of searching I finally have a job! Which is great, but unless I consistently get Tuesdays and Thursdays off my updates will probably be few and far between, I will still update, but between work, the gym and PT I probably won't have a whole lot of time to get these chapters out... Sorry guys, but I do only do this for fun, I don't make any money from it and money is needed for bills. Now, last chapter was not only short, but probably brought up a few questions, hopefully I can answer those in this next chapter. Without further ado, Chapter Twelve**_

 _ **Chapter Twelve:**_

The silence in the Great Hall was almost as deafening as the howling wind had been not a moment ago, Lucius was left staring at the two blonde witches tangled together in utter shock. Originally he had thought that only a Black could bring another Black out of the emotional storm that cropped up from time to time, however it seemed at though he had been wrong all along.

"What the bloody hell was that?"

"Draco!"

"Mister Malfoy!" Both his father and Deputy Headmistress scolded the young blonde, despite the fact everyone in the room other than the two witches were thinking the exact same thing.

"We were all thinking it!" Harry snorted slightly at Draco's outburst, cringing when McGonagal leveled a stern glare at him.

Daphne sighed softly and turned to glare at the group of people behind her, her blue eyes sparking with annoyance, and a thinly veiled threat of violence should they continue to be loud. Draco, Lucius and Harry looked contrite, if Malfoys ever looked contrite. A quick levitating charm saw Hermione's unconscious form following her as she walked over to the group that had been pushed to the outer edges of the Hall by the last blast of wind.

"Mister Malfoy, do you know what that was? Or why Hermione's magic called me to her?" Lucius choked on the breath he had taken to answer the Greengrass Heiress,

"Her _magic_ called you?"

"I didn't stutter sir, I was avoiding breakfast because I didn't wish to see her with Mister Potter and her magic called me. It started as a slight ache in my chest and then turned into a sharp pain, and a pull. Her emotions were all over the place." Lucius swallowed and ran a hand through his hair,

"I hope they can wake Pia soon... I don't know how to handle this." He mumbled more to himself than anyone else, though the rest of the group could easily hear his words.

"Something is wrong with Pandora?" Minerva couldn't truthfully say she had ever really like the elder Malfoy, he had been arrogant in school and even more so when he graduated, but he had been utterly devoted to his betrothed, and she to him. Pandora had been one of the few Slytherins who did not treat Gryffindors with disdain and even went out of her way to make sure her younger brother and his friends were warned about pranks and such her housemates intended to pull on them, even going so far as to tell McGonagal anytime she felt a prank would go to far. Because of the young witch's actions Minerva had been able to make sure Sirius and his friends remained fairly safe within the school. It had truly broken her heart when she heard from a drunk and emotional Sirius that his elder sister had died.

"Narcissa cursed her out of jealousy, the women of the Black family are working on pulling her out of the curse."

"Why is Hermione not with them?"

"She's not old enough, her magical core isn't mature enough for the ritual that B..." Lucius caught himself before he said his former sister-in-law's name, "They are using."

"Mister Malfoy, you have yet to answer my question, what was that?" Daphne's voice was tinged with mild annoyance, but her face was a perfect mask of indifference.

"That, I believe was part of the Black family curse. Narcissa never exhibited any symptoms of the family curse, but Pandora did have an incident similar to this in her fifth year, Professor Dumbledore had to call Bellatrix to come calm her down, strangely enough she was already on her way."

"I don't think that's strange, if it was so similar to what happened here, perhaps Lady Black's magic called out to her cousin."

"Then way did Hermione's magic call out to you? The Greengrass's are not related to the Black's at all, nor are they related to the Malfoys."

"I suppose we will have to wait until we can question Lady Black about it. I however will not be leaving Hermione's side until I know it is safe for me to do so, obviously my presence calms her magic and we wouldn't want anyone to get hurt now would we?"

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Bella, Andy, and Tonks were all drenched in sweat as they stood in a triangular formation around Pandora. Bella's hands were on either side of her cousin's head while her sister and niece stood off to the side near the cursed woman's feet. They had been channeling magic for the past two hours and had barely gotten anywhere with the curse placed on Pandora, but they couldn't lest the stasis charm break and the curse speed up it's deadly path through the younger woman.

"Bella..." Andy's voice was weak and her hands were shaking slightly, she hadn't channeled this much magic in years.

"What?"

"Maybe... maybe if we took the stasis charm off she could help us fight the curse from within? Right now we're fighting around the stasis charm just to get to the curse... what if..." Bella cursed herself silently for not thinking of that sooner, if she could just push past the stasis charm and talk to her for a moment, the way they used to be able to before she had "died". Bella hissed in pain as she latched on to the weak thread that connected Pandora to her and pulled, but rather than pulling Pandora to her she pulled herself to Pandora.

" _Bella?" Bellatrix gave a mental jump for joy at the sound of Pandora's mental voice._

" _Dora! I can't stay long, Andy and I, along with her daughter Nymphadora are trying to break the curse on you, but we are having to fight through the stasis charm that Lucius placed on you. We're going to break it and have you help us fight the curse. This is the only way we could find to break the curse, and it's going to be painful." Pandora hummed softly and took a deep breath,_

" _Do it. I'll do my best to help."_

" _Don't worry, we'll get you fixed up and then we can work taking Narcissa down. You don't harm family, and this goes far beyond that."_

" _Do it Trixi. We'll talk when I can physically hug you."_

Bella let go if the thread and eased out of Pandora's mind before muttering the counter spell to the stasis charm. She expected her cousin to scream and thrash on the marble altar she had been placed on but she didn't, the muscles in her jaw clenched and her entire body went rigid before her entire body began to glow, her own magic was helping theirs tear the curse apart.

Three hours passed and the glow finally faded from her cousin's body, Andy and Tonks collapsed to their knees and took deep breaths but Bella couldn't relax until she knew for certain that her cousin was safe from harm. One diagnostic charm after the other left her wand as she walked shakily around the alter, hope and trepidation warring in her chest.

Every charm turned up that she was fine, letting the older witch finally sink down next to the altar, her eyes slipping shut briefly.

Bella found herself startled awake by Sirius leaning over her and shaking her shoulder slightly,

"We're getting ready to have guests who don't know the truth of what happened, you may want to make yourself scarce." Pandora was standing behind him, looking a little worse for wear, but otherwise fine.

"Do you want me to leave Dora?" Bella's voice cracked slightly, her hurt showing on her face until the wild haired witch shook her head.

"Stay, please... If anyone has an issue Nymphadora and Andromeda can vouch for you."

"Pandora..."

"No Sirius. My magic will go out of control without her near for a while, they can deal with it. We'll make sure everyone knows the real story of what happened to the Longbottoms, once they are woken they can confirm it." The Black Patriarch sighed softly and gently patted his older sister on the shoulder before leaving the room.

Bella stood slowly and faced her cousin, her mental anchor, just as she was Pandora's magical anchor.

"Have you told your daughter about the Black family curse?" The younger witch shook her head,

"I have a feeling though that that is the reason Lucius is bringing her here now instead of allowing her and Draco ride the Express." Bella's brows rose into her hairline,

"Lucius is bringing them here directly? What happened?"

"Apparently Lucius left to explain to them what you, Andy and Tonks were attempting in person rather than in a letter or waiting until they came home this evening. He got no further than casting a silencing charm before Hermione lost it... According to Lucius's Patronus they had to evacuate the Great Hall because her magic could have easily injured the younger students."

"How did they calm her down? The one time that happened to you at school they had to call me in to calm you down. Other than Draco there are no Blacks at the school, and the family magic wouldn't allow an Anchor to be a sibling because of the possibility of animosity between the two." Pandora shook her head and shrugged,

"I assume it was Potter, his grandmother was a Black, which makes them distantly related, but Lucius wouldn't say who managed to pull her out of it, only that she is now unconscious and they will be flooing home once she wakes." Bella frowned slightly and shook her head,

"No, I don't believe it would be the Potter boy, I'd sooner think it was a Weasley than Potter." Pandora bristled slightly and shot a dark glare at her cousin, opening her mouth the refute the elder witch's words, but Bellatrix held her hand up to stop her tirade, "I have nothing against the boy, I can't even begin to explain how happy I was when I found out that the Dark Lord was dead, however, our family magic is just as prejudiced as our parents were, possibly because of a ritual performed long before we were born. The Potter boy is a half-blood, our magic wouldn't allow him to be Hermione's Anchor, it would test him briefly before deeming him unworthy of being her Anchor. You forget _cor meum soror mea_ , our family magic is just as sentient as we are. It chooses our Anchors for us." Pandora sighed and leaned heavily against the wall of the ritual room, Bellatrix was right, Harry couldn't be her daughter's magical Anchor, nor could Draco, the blood tie between them was far too strong. Nymphadora was only a half-blood as well which put her out of the question. Andy was too old to be Hermione's Anchor. There were no descendants of the Black family line that their family magic would approve of, unless it had chosen a Weasley but she highly doubted that, which means their family magic would turn to someone not of the blood, but with a strong bloodline and extremely strong feelings for her, whether platonic or romantic, it didn't matter. A small chuckled left the worried mother, she wondered who their magic would have chosen for the headstrong young woman, and what their feelings for her consisted of.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Hermione woke to raised voices once again in the past two months,

"She's coming home with me so her mother can explain to her what just happened!" That was her Father's voice. A startled shock went through her, when did she start thinking of Lucius as her Father?

"She's our daughter! You didn't even want anything to do with her for sixteen years of her life." Hermione's eyes snapped open to reveal the familiar ceiling of the Hogwarts infirmary.

"I didn't know she existed until two months ago Mister Granger, through no fault of my own, I only seek to get to know _my_ daughter a little better and prepare her for whatever life she wishes to lead." Lucius's voice had gone ice cold and Hermione fought a shiver, she knew her father was pissed and trying very hard not to show it.

"Mum... dad... eh... f-father." The blonde witch sat up slowly, her head was pounding and she was extremely sore, but it wasn't a physical soreness, she was sore down to her bones and exhausted.

"Hermione!" Emma Granger rushed to her daughter's side. She may not have given birth to the sixteen years old young woman, but she had raised her as her own and no one would ever tell her that Hermione was not her daughter.

"How... How are you here?"

"Professor Dumbledore brought us here after your episode..." Hermione frowned,

"Why didn't you come when I was in Saint Mungos? Or when I was petrified in second year?" Emma blinked slightly, not quite expecting that question. "You didn't ask if I was okay after I told you that I was attacked by a troll in first year..." Hermione's eyes narrowed in an accusatory manner, deep grey turning to steel.

"Hermione... we..." The incensed witch cut her adoptive father off,

"What parents in their right minds would send their child back to a school where they got attacked by a bloody troll! Or petrified by a sixty foot monster? I was attacked by a werewolf in third year and stuck under a lake in the middle of February last year!"

"Well... we just assumed... that..."

"Oh, I'm magical so I can handle all that, right?" Magic sparked through her hair.

"Hermione..." The blonde shook her head,

"I want an explanation! Why didn't you ever write to Dumbledore, or my Head of House? I have been in danger every year and I find out now that you two have always been able to come here! I wasn't even in danger today!" angry tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as the two muggles looked at each other, both at a loss for what to say.

Lucius stepped forward, having heard enough from his once again distraught daughter,

"Mister and Missus Granger, I would kindly ask you to leave before you distress my daughter further, she has already had a difficult day and I don't believe she needs any more stress added to it."

"She's our daughter! You have no right to throw us out of here!" Lucius frowned and leveled the muggle man with a deadly glare.

"In the muggle world she is legally yours. However, Magical Britain doesn't give a rat's ass about a muggle's claim to a Pureblood Heiress, especially considering that she is the production of two of the most powerful families in the magical world. I can quite easily rectify your claim to _**my**_ daughter in the muggle world as well, muggle paperwork is no match for magic. So you can either leave now, or I will call Pandora up here to sit with her daughter while I go fix the travesty that happened fifteen years ago."

"Dan..."

"No, Emma, Hermione is our daughter." The muggle man snapped vehemently,

"Dan!"

"We are not leaving without our daughter!" Hermione slid out of her bed and went to stand next to Lucius, leaning slightly into his side when he wrapped a protective arm around her.

"Go home. We can discuss this later, right now I need to know about what is going on with my magic, this is the second time I've had to be calmed down because my magic responded to my emotions and could have hurt people."

"If you stay here you aren't going to be welcome back in our home." Daniel Granger had just crossed a line that even Emma couldn't stand back for. The tiny muggle woman stepped in front of her husband and slapped him so hard even Lucius winced.

"How dare you Daniel Granger!"

"No, she wants to chose magic over us then she can stay with her biological parents. We can adopt another child, a normal child!" Emma stared at her husband like he had lost it, "I had hoped if it seemed like we didn't care about what happened to her she would stay home, obviously that didn't work. So now she has a choice, and she better make it fast." Hermione's shock and despair quickly turned to anger,

"Magic is a part of me, whether I was born yours or not. You're asking me to chose between a part of myself and the life you want for me! That choice will always be the same. I will _always_ chose magic over living my life missing a part of myself." Dan glared at the blonde witch who looked almost nothing like the girl he put on the train in September,

"Fine, don't darken our doorstep ever again." Emma stood in her place, shocked, as she watched her husband walk out of the infirmary.

"Hermione..."

"Aren't you going to follow him?" Her daughter snapped, refusing to look her in the eye.

"Hermione Jean Granger!" Emma snapped, crossing her arms over her chest to fix the young woman with a stern glare, "Dan never told me about all those incidents, I would have been up here in a heartbeat if I had known. Dan may not agree, but you are my daughter in every way that matters and I want to keep in touch and maybe meet your biological mother and your brother?" Silvery grey eyes met deep brown and Hermione nodded slightly, tears streaking silently down her face. "Oh, baby girl come here."

Hermione launched herself into her mum's arms and sobbed brokenly, she couldn't believe her dad had tried to make her chose between her magic and him.

"Honey, I have to go. I promise I'll write to you okay?"

"Okay mum. I love you."

"And I love you too hon. I'll try to visit as often as I can. Dan may find himself running the practice by himself from now on." With that last threat mumbled Emma kissed Hermione on the crown of her head and left the infirmary, fury at her husband boiling in her stomach. Daniel Granger was in for it when they got home.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _ **A/N: This took me nearly five hours to write... About half-way through the chapter my stomach decided it hated me so I had to miss PT. Now I gotta get home and make dinner. URG. Bye everyone, until next time R &R!**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N: Hey guys, I'm so sorry it's been almost three months since I last updated… I'm spending Thanksgiving holidays with my unofficial beta, and mum, Catmau. *Glances at the kitchen where she and dad are cooking.* Still a slave-driver she is. So last y'all heard from me, I was living with my sister and grandmother in Maryland, unless you also follow Harry Potter and the Lady of Blue Fire, which has been updated since my move back to Kentucky, I don't know if I let anyone know that in the chapter, pretty sure I didn't but as of right now, I'm living in Louisville, though not for much longer. Hopefully once I'm fully settled back home I'll have more time to update. Now for anyone who follows me as a writer, Lady and Fallen will get chapters soon. I'm not exactly sure when, but it should be soon. Without further ado, Chapter Thirteen of Heiress of the Stars.**_

 _ **Chapter Thirteen:**_

Pandora paced nervously in the foyer of the Malfoy mansion, her bare feet whispering against the marble floor. _What was taking them so long? Floo was instantaneous, they should be here by now._ Her eyes flickered over to the fireplace for probably the thousandth time in the past half hour. Bella sat in a chaise off to the side, watching her cousin with amusement sparkling in her eyes. Sirius sat on the other side the room, facing the door in case he needed to stun anyone. He still felt that having Bella in the room when everyone arrived was a terrible idea, but he couldn't fault his sister's logic, her magic would go haywire without the elder woman nearby.

The fireplace flared green, causing Pandora to freeze mid-step almost comically. Lucius came through first, his arm wrapped tightly around Hermione's shoulders as they stepped through. Draco followed shortly, followed by a young blonde woman with bright blue-green eyes. Sirius stood and slowly pulled his wand, ready to stun any of them in case they felt the need to go after his cousin.

Hermione froze when she saw Bellatrix lounging in the foyer/drawing room area they had stepped in to from the fireplace. Her spine went rigid and her fingers twitched towards her wand until she saw her Uncle standing off to the side, his wand drawn. He looked relaxed but she recognized the way his eyes never left the three teens in the room. He was ready to stun any of them if they made a move he didn't like.

"What is _she_ doing here Mother?" Her voice was cold as ice as she leaned into her Father's side. Pandora tensed slightly and looked between her cousin and her daughter.

"She's here because if she wasn't my magic would haywire after being under that curse for so long." Hermione bristled and stepped towards her mother, anger flaring in her eyes,

"She is the reason Neville's parents were tortured to insanity!" Pandora shook her head slightly,

"No. She swore an oath on her magic and her life that the Longbottoms are not insane, merely trapped within minds by a simple spell that has an even simpler counter-spell. If what she was saying wasn't true she would be without magic and dead, rather than sitting in this room, and I would still be under that foul curse Narcissa put on me." Hermione blinked slightly and her temper simmered down a little, she was slightly familiar with wand oaths and knew that what her mother said was true, but she still couldn't help but distrust the former Death Eater's claim. "She made the Oath in front of Nymphadora, who you know is an Auror, if Tonks had any reason to distrust Bella's Oath she would be back in Azkaban and I would still be under that damned curse. Trust me Hermione, she means no harm." Hermione looked between her mother's pleading gaze and the wild haired woman she had the pleasure of calling an Aunt. Bellatrix for her part had handed her wand over to Sirius before anyone came through the Floo and was unarmed. Hermione sighed softly and bowed her head,

"Alright Mother, I trust you. But just know if she puts one toe out of line I'll be the first one to curse her into oblivion." This earned a laugh from the woman in question,

"My, my Dora, she certainly has your temper. And your ease with tossing threats out. If she's anything like you, I may actually have to watch my behavior."

"Trixie… now is not really the time to be joking, I assure you, she is quite serious." Pandora shot a dark glare at her younger brother when he opened his mouth. He shut it and glanced at Bellatrix who giggled slightly, both of them thinking the same thing. "Hermione… Lucius told me that you had a magical outburst in the Great Hall when he came to give you news of me. Are you alright?" Hermione nodded slowly,

"I assumed the worst and lost control of my magic, if Daphne hadn't of come when she did, I'm sure someone would have gotten hurt." Pandora's brows disappeared into her hairline and her grey gaze shifted to the other female that had come through the Floo with the rest of her family.

"Daphne Greengrass, Lady Black." Daphne curtsied lightly and kept her face completely impassive as the older woman circled her slowly. Despite feeling as though she was being stalked by a rather large predator, Daphne remained calm and collected until the woman stopped in front of her and frowned slightly. Her eyes shifting to Lucius, who shrugged and nodded at the still form of there daughter, and then she looked at her _heart sister_.

Bellatrix looked between the two young women and shrugged, silently mouthing that Pandora needed to explain the Black family curse to them.

"Hermione, how much do you know about the women of the Black family?"

"Not much, the only two I knew about were Narcissa and Bellatrix." Pandora hummed softly,

"Girls, please come sit down. Boys, if you could give us some privacy that would be wonderful." Her gaze fell on Lucius and he nodded before dragging his son and Sirius out of the room, Sirius didn't protest but they could hear Draco grumbling about it until Lucius told him to hush. "Ladies, the women of the Black family, and sometimes the men, but most often the women, have something sort of like a curse upon them. As the Blacks are an Ancient and Noble House, one that actually, and surprisingly, listened when the Muggles revealed that inbreeding caused deformities in children, we have always been incredibly magically powerful, some of us even reaching Mage status once our magical maturation was complete. Because we are so powerful, our forefathers placed a sort of binding curse on us that would transfer to our spouse once the marriage was physically and magically consummated, to keep the men in control of us."

"That's barbaric!" Pandora chuckled softly at her daughter's outburst, her eyes twinkling with mirth,

"Indeed, but it was also a different time when witches were even more subjugated than they are now. Because of this… Binding Curse, in highly stressful or emotional situations, the Black women have a tendency to lose control of the innate elemental magics that most witches have, thus the windstorm that you created in the Great Hall when you thought I had succumbed to the curse. Now to counteract this curse so it could be controlled somewhat, our forefathers created a failsafe so to speak. An Anchor to tie our magic down. Until marriage, it is usually a cousin, female or male, of a pure legacy,"

"Meaning the magic is just as bigoted as the people who created the spell." Annoyance heated Pandora's chest at her daughter's second interruption,

"Yes, Hermione, I love you, I truly do, but do not interrupt me again." The young blonde blushed and her grey eyes turned down towards her hands. Bellatrix was chuckling behind her hand, Hermione was much like the younger version of Pandora, just without the trained Pureblood tact.

"In the case of there being no family members of such it will chose someone of Pure blood, with strong feelings for the Black woman, platonic or otherwise. This is why Miss Greengrass was the only one who could calm you down when you were upset. She is your Anchor, until such time as you marry." Hermione sat back, a stunned look on her face while Daphne nodded slowly, as though she had expected something like this.

 _ **Post A/N: So… This is really just a filler chapter, but now you know what's going on with Hermione and Daphne! Yay?**_


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N: Hey everyone! I'm baaaaaaack! For a little while at least. So… I've been going through a rough patch lately which is why I haven't posted on anything in a while, I've actually got Fallen Valkyrie's second (third) chapter started, if any of you follow the Avengers fandom. I also have some bad news, my muse for Harry Potter and the Lady of Blue Fire has taken a seemingly permanent vacation, so unless I suddenly get inspiration for the story it will be going on hiatus, I'm debating completely pulling the story from FFN and rewriting it totally once I get inspiration to continue passed chapter thirteen.**_

 _ **Now… as for Heiress of the Stars, it probably would have been a few more weeks before I got to updating this story but my lovely un-official Beta, Catmau, decided to not only crack the whip but be super creepy while I was trying to update one of the Role-Plays I'm doing with my sister on .com… Now when I say super creepy, I mean she stood behind me at my computer desk while I typed up this super long RP post… I have an extreme paranoia when it comes to people standing behind me, so it freaked me out a bit, but she made up for it with delicious hot cocoa, so all is forgiven.**_

 _ **Guys, I know this is a super long Author's note and I try to not make them so long, but I wanted to tell you all a bit of what's going on with me and keep y'all up to date with everything. So, my Air Force stuff has gone through and my last step is going to MEPs and getting the inspection part of my physical again. So, if the Doctor at MEPs gives me the okay, *fingers crossed* I'll be shipping out as soon at my Recruiter can get me out. I have started my own little business, Electra and Co's Candles Soaps and More, look it up on Facebook, once again, if I get into the military both the business and my stories will be put on hold at least until I get out of Basic. Anyway, I've blathered on enough, on to the fourteenth chapter of Heiress of the Stars!**_

 _ **Chapter Fourteen:**_

Hermione sat back in her seat as her mind tried to wrap around everything her mother had just told her. The curse itself made Hermione rail against her ancestors, but at the same time, knowing a little bit about the Blacks she could understand why it was put on the women of the family.

"Is there any way to break it? Not that I mind having Daphne as my Anchor, its just that a curse like that is no longer necessary is it?" Pandora looked at Bellatrix and huffed slightly, neither of them had even thought about trying to break the curse because it helped with the Black Madness.

"If any one could find a way to break it, it would be you Hermione… However, it keeps another issue at bay, at least for the women in the family. As this issue is most common in the women in the family, it is almost safer to leave the curse in place." Hermione's eyes narrowed, and Daphne shifted closer to the blonde, their arms brushing in an almost identical version of the way Pandora and Bella were sitting. Obviously, skin on skin contact helped keep their magic in control.

"What other issue?" Pandora flinched at the ice in her daughter's voice, she knew it would be difficult to tell Hermione everything about the Blacks, especially the curses that afflicted them.

Bella, sensing Pandora's distress, took over, her steely grey eyes locking on her second cousin,

"The Black Family Madness. Everyone with Black blood running through their veins is affected by it in some way or another. The women in the family even more so because of the curse that Anchors us to another. Each female Black family member has two Anchors. An Anchor for their mental health, and an Anchor for their magic. Sometimes, most times, they are the same person until marriage, then the magical Anchor switches to your spouse, but the mental Anchor remains the same, unless the magical Anchor is already someone outside of the family, such as in your case. Most likely your mental Anchor will be Draco, as he is close to your age and directly related to you. That will never change. Up until my marriage, Pandora was both my mental and magical Anchor. When I married, Rodolphus became my magical Anchor and Pandora remained my mental Anchor, which is why I lost my mental facilities after she faked her death. Though the constant torture under the Cruciatus curse didn't help." Bella froze and looked at Pandora, "Dora… do you know who Cissa's mental Anchor was?" The woman frowned slightly as she wracked her brain for the answer. It was there, she knew who it was, but the identity escaped her, at least it did for a moment, until tears welled up in her eyes and she sobbed suddenly.

No wonder Narcissa was going mad, honestly it should have happened long before now,

"Regulus. Reg was her Anchor. Lucius would have been her magical Anchor while they were married, but when their marriage dissolved it would have gone back to her mental Anchor… Except she no longer has one. Reg has been dead for sixteen years, if not longer." Bella swallowed, she had hoped they could pull her youngest sister through this, but a Black woman without either Anchors was as dangerous as a pissed off Nundu, and twice as deadly because they had a wand and the magical power to back up the instability.

"We're going to have to put her down. And do it fast… otherwise…" Pandora nodded slowly, she didn't need her cousin to explain what would happen if they didn't neutralize Narcissa, she knew it would be a bloodbath. Hermione looked between the two women, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"What do you mean we're going to have to put her down? She can be saved right? Her Anchor transferred to someone else?" She may not like the woman, but it wasn't her fault that the Black family was cursed, she didn't deserve to die because some old farts back in the day decided they needed to make more issues for the women born into the family.

"I wish that were the case Hermione dear… but that was tried once before many, many years ago and all of the family members involved in the ritual to try and change the Anchor were killed in the magical backlash. The family magic choses for us, it doesn't care if the Anchors die, but they can't be changed." Pandora reached out and took her daughter's hand, "I'm pissed that she cursed me the way she did, but in a way, it wasn't her fault. Finding out that I was alive shook her metal state, without Regulus, there was no way for her to snap back and think rationally. Then Sirius dissolved her marriage to Lucius because my betrothal contract supersedes hers. Thus, she lost her magical Anchor as well, and that just tipped the scales too far into the madness. I don't want to kill her. I never did. Get revenge, yes. She cursed me and deserved to be put in her place for it, but I was never going to kill her. Now though, we have no choice. If we leave her alive, she'll only get more unstable and wind up killing others. Not even Azkaban could keep her in if she continues to deteriorate."

The blonde looked at her mother and then her cousin, her stormy eyes filled with tears. Both her mother and brother were going to lose someone they loved because there was no way to fix her. There would be no happy ending for Narcissa Black, despite Pandora doing her best to make sure she got one.


	15. Chapter 15

_**A/N: I have no clue what's going on in my life but good lord does it need to stop. Chapter fifteen guys! And I'm nowhere near done! I think that's a good thing right? People like long fics right? Hmm…. Anyway, as usual, love to my mum and unofficial Beta Catmau, she's great, and currently napping… On to the Chapter!**_

 _ **Chapter Fifteen:**_

 _ **Unknown**_

Dark, lank hair was shoved away from a gaunt, pale face as burning silver eyes stared out the barred window of the cell his mother had locked him away in many years ago. How long had he been locked away, with only a house elf for company? Too long, he was beginning to go mad, he needed to see people again, see what had become of his family. He sighed and sat down dejectedly on the sofa in his cell, he did not know how much long he could remain sane within these four walls.

 _ **Malfoy Manor**_

Pandora found herself standing hesitantly outside the Greengrass Heiress' room within her own home. The young blonde had been rather quiet at dinner, and reserved in all other things after Pandora and Bella had explained what was going on to the two girls.

"Miss Greengrass?" She knocked lightly, her voice laced with motherly concern,

"Come in." The voice that answered was quiet and dull, with no inflection to it at all, as though there were Occulemency barriers up. Pandora eased the door open, peaking in on the girl before opening it fully and stepping into the room completely, easing the door shut again so she didn't alarm the young witch.

"Something troubles you Miss Greengrass, would you like to talk about it?" the girl looked up from her lap and Pandora watched as she slowly let her barriers down, revealing the scared girl beneath the Ice Princess exterior she had to put up at school, and around her Housemates. "Pipsy!" The elf appeared silently next to her mistress,

"What can Pipsy be doings for the Mistress?"

"Tea and biscuits please Pipsy, perhaps a Calming Draught as well."

"Of course Mistress." The elf disappeared as silently as she came while Pandora walked over to Daphne's bed,

"May I sit?" When the girl nodded she settled herself next to the blonde with all the grace that came from being raised the way she was, "You have concerns you didn't want to voice in front of Hermione for fear of upsetting her, do you not?"

"How did you know?" Pandora smiled at the shocked look she received from the younger witch.

"Lucius did the same thing you do. He hid behind his barriers for many years. It took me forever to figure out how to read him while they were up, but I managed. You my dear, are not nearly as good as him with your Occulemency, though far more talented than many your age. Now please, feel free to ask your questions, I will not judge you for having them." Daphne took and shuddering breath, and suddenly let it out when tea appeared before them on a small table. She took a few moments to fix it the way she liked as she thought about everything she wanted to ask, one question weighed heavily on her mind, it was the only one though that she wasn't sure if she wanted the answer to. To her that meant it was the one she needed to ask first, just to get it done and over with.

"Lady Black… This Anchor business. Could it strengthen my feelings for your daughter? Perhaps turn what would normally only be platonic feelings of friendship into romantic feelings?" The older witch hummed thoughtfully as she sipped her tea, wondering if it was in fact possible.

Daphne's frown deepened as she waited for Pandora's answer, she was just sipping her tea with her brows furrowed in thought, the Greengrass Heiress was antsy to know, but she knew she had to wait for the Lady Black to give her answer.

"Honestly Miss Greengrass… I do not know. I suppose it could be possible, Bella and I have always been more like sisters than cousins, whether that is from the bond or the time we spent together as children I can not say, however, I am more inclined to believe that it is a little bit of both in our case. Am I correct in assuming that you took no notice of Hermione before this year, and quickly developed your crush on her without even speaking?"

"Well, I took notice of her. She was always with Potter or the Weasel-" Daphne smiled slightly when the childish insult to the youngest Weasley boy had the normally prim and proper Pureblood Lady snorting her tea, "She was really smart too, knew the answers to every question, though Potter generally got the practical portion down before she did, but yes, it was this year that I started to fancy her, despite us never even saying a word to one another." Pandora hummed, absentmindedly dabbing at the tea that had spilled on her robes.

"I'll do some research on it Miss Greengrass. I'm sure you and Hermione are not the only set of unrelated Anchor/Black pairings. If there are more they will be well documented." Daphne's eyes filled with hope as she glanced at the older woman beside her. She was so much warmer than her own mother, and it made less sense for it to be that way, but for the moment Daphne was glad.

"Thank you Lady Black."

"It is my pleasure. Rest tonight Miss Greengrass, you will be the first one who knows what I find." With that she stood from the bed and left the room silently, leaving the young blonde to her thoughts.

 _ **Four Days Later**_

Pandora had taken Daphne's concerns very seriously, and had immediately delved into the Black Family archives that were kept of every pair. It only took her a day and a half to find out that the unrelated pairs were kept in a separate archive and three hours for her to track the books that detailed them down. She knew that she could have taken the books to Daphne and been done with it, but that was not what she promised to do, so she read through the four tombs that documented the previous unrelated pairs, and tucked away the magical tomb that would record Hermione and Daphne's pairing until the married or separated.

Armed with the four tomes and all her notes over the past few days she may her way to the room that the Greengrass Heiress was staying in and knocked.

"Miss Greengrass? I have that information you wanted me to find."


	16. Chapter 16

_**A/N: So, I wrote and posted chapter fifteen yesterday, but you guys are getting this a week later, sorry not sorry. That will be my posting schedule from now on. One chapter a week, normally on Saturdays or Sundays. I spend forty hours a week sitting in a concrete box with little else to do but write or watch TV. Some have already put forward guesses as to who our as of yet unknown prisoner is, great guesses but if I told you it would ruin the surprise. Also, I'm still trying to figure out if Hermione is actually going to be paired with Daphne, so bear with me... As usual a shout out to my lovely mother and unofficial Beta, Catmau. Love you mum! On to Chapter sixteen!**_

 _ **Chapter Sixteen:**_

" _Miss Greengrass? I have that information you wanted me to find."_

Daphne all but wrenched open the door, nearly sending the older witch sprawling on the floor.

"Oh! Lady Black I'm so sorry, I didn't realize you were that close to the door." Daphne helped right the woman on her feet and smiled nervously. Pandora just waved the younger witch's worries away as she glided into the room, the tomes floating along behind her.

"These are the tomes that documented every unrelated Anchor pairing. Personally, I would say the information is inconclusive, but I brought them to you so you could read over them yourself." Daphne nodded vigorously and patiently waited for Pandora to relinquish the books.

"Thank you! Thank you, Lady Black, for your help, and for allowing me to look through the books for myself." Pandora smiled and levitated the books to the young woman's bedside table,

"Do not be discouraged by what you find, or what you don't find Miss Greengrass." She murmured softly, laying gentle hands on the witch's shoulders before leaving the room.

Pandora wandered aimlessly through the Manor, her mind worried a little about what the Greengrass Heiress would do upon finding the non-answers in the tomes, what conclusions would she draw?

"Pia?" She turned to her fiancé and gave him a tight smile, causing him to frown softly, "What troubles you love?" she huffed softly and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck so she could look directly into his eyes.

"Many things trouble me Luc, but the Greengrass girl questions her feelings for Hermione, and wonders, rightly so, whether it is the work of the Anchor bond."

"Did the Black Archives have nothing to say about it. Surely your family would automatically document unrelated bonds?"

"They did, there have only been four other pairs that were unrelated, and every one of them were male-female pairs that married shortly after the witch reached her majority. There's nothing to either confirm or allay Miss Greengrass' fears, and I fear that whatever she may decide will be to Hermione's detriment." Lucius pulled Pandora closer to him, wrapping his arms around her completely,

"Miss Greengrass is a Slytherin Pia, she will think everything through before she makes up her mind. For now, hope for the best, but prepare of the worst. Have you found who her Mental Anchor is?" Pandora frowned slightly into Lucius' chest.

"I know for a fact it's not Draco, their relationship was antagonistic for far too long. It's not either of us, which isn't surprising. The only one I can even think it could be is the Potter boy. She seems to get frazzled easier without him around, and they have been best friends since the beginning of their schooling."

"Yet you are hesitant to accept this, why?" Pandora sighed and pulled away, beginning to pace nervously,

"The boy is a half-blood Luc, unless he was the only choice the family magic never would have chosen him as her anchor. But there were others that could have filled the role, any of the Weasley boys for that matter, but it seems to have chosen him, and for the life of me I cannot figure out why." Lucius grabbed her arm gently to stop her pacing, smiling in amusement as she turned her storm colored gaze to him, "This isn't funny Lucius!"

"Love, Hermione is unlike any of the Black women alive today, she is stubborn, smart, courageous, and a bit pig-headed at times, but there's one thing that sets her apart from all of you, even Andromeda. She grew up in a muggle home, she would reject the family magic faster than you could blink if her anchors were chosen solely on blood purity. You know that, I know that, your family magic is sentient enough to know that and made a small concession to keep an extremely powerful witch in the family." Pandora blinked slowly as she processed what he was saying, truly allowing the Potter boy as her daughter's Mental Anchor was an incredibly small concession for the family magic to make, until James Potter had taken Lilly Potter, nee Evans, as his bride the Potter's had been one of the most pureblooded families in Magical Britain, if not the Magical world.

"I suppose you are correct Lucius... I do not know why I could not see it before now." Lucius pressed a gentle kiss to her temple, a soft chuckle rumbling in his chest,

"Sometimes it takes and outsider's point of view to get to the bottom of something. Especially when you are closer to the issue than they are." Pandora laughed lightly and pulled from her fiancé's embrace,

"You're right."

"Say that again."

"You're right?" She tilted her head, a confused expression on her face,

"Again?" He pressed, grey eyes flashing with mirth, "I don't get to hear you say I'm right about much." She gave him a narrow-eyed glare and whirled away from him, stalking down the hallway in mock indignation. He laughed softly and caught her, picking her up and twirling her around, "I am just joking my love. No need to get upset about it." She huffed and tilted her head back to look at him, a slight smirk tilting the corner of her lips up.

"Mother?" Pandora turned towards the voice of her daughter, her eyes softening at the sight of the blonde witch.

"Yes dear?"

"I was just wondering if you knew where Daphne was."

"Miss Greengrass is researching something on a topic that has had her quite worried since our conversation about Anchors. Is there something wrong?" She pulled herself from Lucius' arms and walked slowly towards the younger Black witch.

"Oh... I just- My magic feels funny, I didn't want it to get out of control again."

"Funny how?"

"I don't know, tight, maybe bound up, like a sore muscle." Pandora chuckled softly,

"That's because you aren't using it dear. Go practice some of your school charms and it will feel better."

"But we aren't allowed to do magic outside of school!" Hermione yelped, her eyes going wide,

"In the muggle world yes, because you could be seen. But here it doesn't matter. Even if the Ministry investigated, any one of the adults here would cover for you and just say it was one of us using your wand. Now go dear, keeping your magic leashed so tightly means you'll have to rely on Miss Greengrass more than necessary." Hermione nodded and bounded off, calling for Draco and Harry to join her in the dueling room.

"Ten Galleons she beats both of them." Pandora hummed and thought about her counter bet,

"Fifteen says she bests Draco but Potter puts her on her arse before she beats him."

"Deal." The two parents followed their children and nephew to see how this was going to go, Pandora won the bet needless to say.

 _ **Unknown**_

It had been another week, or maybe it was less, perhaps more. He didn't know. Time here was strange, he did not age normally, at least he didn't think he did. It felt as though it had been an eternity since his imprisonment, but he barely looked five years older, except for the beard and the length on his hair he had remained nearly the same as when he had been whisked away from certain death. He sighed and stared once again out the barred windows, blue-grey eyes dull and defeated. He had resigned himself to dying within this lavish prison.

 _ **Post A/N: So, just a little filler chapter while I try to figure out which way my brain is pulling me on the pairings, my muse (mum) says to stick with H/DG, but my brain says to cause pain and do HG/TN... hmmm, decisions, decisions... Welp, see you all next week!**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**A/N: Welp, I have nothing witty to say, my brain feels half dead right now and I get off work in thirty minutes. YAY! I'll finish this chapter tomorrow... bye for now!**_

 _ **A/N 2:Normally I don't crumble under pressure of reviewers but I'm probably going to get a pretty nasty text from mom here shortly, just kidding. So time for a little truthfulness here, originally I was going to make this a Hermione/Theo story because I have never written a homosexual relationship, ever. It's a little intimidating to try to write something that you've never written before, especially in a story that seems to be going so well and people really like. I don't want to fuck this up for you guys, and I'm already a huge critic of myself. So I'm going to try to do something a little different okay.**_

 _ **Chapter Seventeen**_

Daphne held her head in her hands as she processed the information in the tombs, while none of them actively said that it was due to the Anchor bond, every couple had gotten married, every one of them reported stronger feeling towards their Anchor or their Bonded, even before marriage. She jumped when a knock sounded on her door,

"Daph? You in there?" Theo asked softly, poking his head into the door, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing Nott. I need to talk to Black about something." She snapped, standing up. A quick motion with her wand had the four books shut and gathered neatly in a hovering pile, "Do you know where she's at?"

"Library last I saw, working on summer homework." The blonde nodded and swept past her friend, but not before the boy saw the tears in her blue-green eyes.

Hermione jumped as a stack of books dropped on the table in front of her, nearly knocking over her ink pot.

"Daphne! What was that about?"

"I can't do this Granger... Black. I can't be your Anchor." Hermione froze and stared up at the blonde girl,

"Huh? What do you mean you can't be my Anchor? The family magic chose you, neither of us have a choice in this." Hermione stood from her seat, her eyes going wide with worry and mild panic as what Daphne was saying hit her full force.

"Yes, I do, and I'm choosing to go home. I can't be your Anchor. Not knowing that it takes away my choice for a partner. Every single unrelated Anchor/Bonded pair wound up married and reported they had stronger feelings for the other than they normally would have thought. That's not happening with us. I want to choose who I live my life with, not let some family magic that isn't even mine choose for me. I'm sorry." Hermione fell back into her chair, her eyes wide and filling with tears rapidly. She couldn't blame Daphne really. They barely knew one another, and then to have this thrown on them. That wasn't why the tears were rapidly becoming more difficult to hold back. Without Daphne her magic would run wild with her emotions until she married, and she really didn't want to have to marry someone just to get her magic under control.

"It's... It's okay Daph. You need to do what's best for you and I get that. I'll figure something out." The other blonde looked at her coolly, trying to fight back her own tears because she could feel Hermione's worry and anguish.

"Goodbye Black. I'll... I'll see you at school I suppose." Hermione nodded blankly and watched her leave. As she went, she could have sworn she saw a tear slip down the younger witch's cheek. The door to the library slammed shut with a thud that sounded far too final for Hermione's liking. She sighed and put her head in her hands as she battled with her emotions silently.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Theo stopped Daphne before she could leave the house, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Daphne, do not do this." His voice was rough with emotion that she had never heard him express. Her jaw clenched and she huffed slightly,

"I have to Theo. I need to have a choice. I need to know that these feelings are natural and not just a part of the Bond, okay? I deserve more than that, and she definitely deserves more than that. After all the shit she's been through with Weasley, and her adoptive father, I owe it to her, and myself, to make sure I love her for her and not just for this stupid bond." Theo sighed and looked the younger teen over critically. Obviously whatever information she had found was weighing heavily on her mind.

"You're right, she does deserve better than that, but you know she can't promise to wait for you to get your head on straight and realize that it's not the bond talking. You've been crushing on her for the past four years Daphne. The sooner you realize that the sooner you and her can get on with being happy. Just figure it out soon okay? I won't stop you from leaving now... Just don't avoid her at school, she still needs you okay?" Daphne nodded slightly, her own emotions were warring with the emotions that Hermione was feeling, the hurt and sorrow mixed uneasily with the confusion and abject fear coursing through her own veins. As a pureblood female she had few choices, something Hermione had yet to figure out, and she was scared of one of the few she had being taken away from her without her approval.

"I'll be back Theo, I just need time." The brunette nodded and stepped out of her path, allowing her to dart into the floo and go home. He would do his best to keep Hermione calm and collected while she was gone, but he wouldn't promise the Greengrass Heiress that he wouldn't try to steal Hermione's heart.

"May the best Slytherin win Greengrass." He smirked at the fireplace and headed towards the library, where he knew the Black-Malfoy heiress was over-thinking the interaction she had just had with the younger blonde.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Pandora smirked to herself, turning to her betrothed,

"It seems there may be a competition for our daughter's affections in the works Luc." The blonde pulled Pandora close and chuckled softly into her shoulder,

"Yes, well. How bad do you think the explosion is going to be when she finds out? Her temper is worse than yours." Pandora ran black painted nails through his white-blonde hair,

"I think Draco and Harry will react worse than she will honestly. Both of them are very protective of her, and she'll just be confused. She doesn't see how beautiful and desirable she is to her peers, in more ways than one. I think the only two marriage contracts we should even consider for her are Nott's and Greengrass'."

"I agree, but for now, why don't we work on giving her and Draco another brother or sister to dote on?" Pandora all but squealed when he apparated the two of them away from their hiding spot in the Parlor. They had hidden when Theo had walked in ahead of Daphne and all but held their breath during the conversation afterwards.

 _ **A/N:Sorry guys, work got rough and everything slipped my mind. I know this chapter is super short and I'm really sorry, please don't hate me.**_

 _ **A/N 2: Alright, I actually like this a little better, and it's a little longer so that should make some of you happy, and those of you who were unhappy about me completely nixing Daphne should be happy that she still has a chance. Enjoy**_


	18. Chapter 18

_**A/N: So, there was a little bit of controversy over the original Chapter Seventeen. There are a lot of you who want very much so for this story to swing towards Hermione being with Daphne. Fair warning, I myself as a person, have never had a relationship with another female work out, that may bleed into this story, it may not. I have also never written a homosexual relationship before though I have been in a few myself. I apologize if this story turns to crap because of that. THIS IS NOT A PROMISE THAT HERMIONE AND DAPHNE WILL WIND UP TOGETHER! This is just a warning that should it happen I've never done this before. Now, either way this story goes, there will be an alternate storyline where the other pairing is the one that happens. As is I'm mildly leaning towards making this a damned triad fic so everyone is happy and I don't have to write the alternate storyline.**_

 _ **I'm also going to point out to one of my lovely reviewers that just because Daphne has been crushing on Hermione ever since first year, doesn't mean she consciously realized it. Generally, in a situation such as this, in which Daphne is crushing on someone her parents would not approve of, a person will crush those feelings or write them off as something else, in Daphne's case, respect for Hermione's intellect.**_

 _ **Chapter Eighteen**_

Hermione bit down on the sobs that wanted to build in her chest, her mind understood Daphne's reasonings, but her heart was broken because of them. Her teeth worried her bottom lip as her heart broke, her magic swirled dangerously around her as her emotions began to go out of control. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear Theo come in, or see him sit down across from her until he gently took her hand,

"Hermione." She swallowed and managed to look up into Theo's eyes. Moss green pools stared back at her, darker and more guarded than Harry's but just as beautiful,

"What Theo?" Her voice was hoarse, and damp with unshed tears. Theo smiled softly, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles,

"Daphne is a bit bullheaded sometimes. She gets an idea in her head and refuses to let it go, no matter what, until she proves herself wrong. That's all this is, she'll be back once she realizes she's being thick again. Just give her time." Hermione let a hysterical laugh bubble from her lips, causing Theo to raise a dark brow.

"I can't give her time Theodore. Without her my magic goes haywire and people get hurt, there's no way to transfer the Anchor to someone else without a marriage. I get why Daphne wants out, and honestly, I don't blame her all that much, but I can't help but think that she's being a little bit selfish because it's not just her emotions on the line, there could be lives on the line if I have another outburst like the one in the Great Hall, what then? If someone gets hurt, or worse, killed then whose hands is that blood on? Who takes the blame there? I'm not going to take the blame for something I can't bloody control!" She snarled the last line, her Black temper showing itself briefly before she reigned it in by taking a deep breath, sadly this method didn't work for the magical wind that was now tearing through the room.

"Hermione! Look at me, focus on me and pull your magic in. Be your own Anchor until she pulls her head out of her arse." Theo half yelled over the wind, sighing softly when her nearly black eyes met his and she took a shuddering breath, her skin was humming with magic and relief filled him as the almost electrical current of magic on her skin receded and the wind died down. "Good job."

"I don't know how many times I can do that. It feels like I'm trying to bottle lightning, and it's crackling under the surface, just barely leashed, and the leash is frayed and ready to snap any moment." Theo snorted indelicately

"Poetic Hermione. Lets get you to Potter and maybe that leash of yours might mend a little bit." She frowned but let the taller Snake pull her to her feet and drag her towards the Dueling Room, where Harry and Draco were trying to curse the shite out of each other.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"Oi! Potter! Your best friend needs your help, take a break from getting your arse kicked!" Both Draco and Potter stopped throwing curses at each other and their eyes fell on Hermione in near tandem. Hermione's eyes were blood-shot from unshed tears, and her hands were shaking with the effort to hold her magic at bay. Harry immediately stowed his wand in the holster on his wrist and darted over, followed immediately by Draco.

"What did you do Nott?" Harry hissed as he pulled his best friend into his arms and slowly lead her over to a bench,

"I didn't do anything, you need to direct that glare at Greengrass, she decided to up and leave because she read some books that said she would basically be forced to marry Hermione because of the Anchor bond." Harry narrowed his eyes at the Snake before turning a worried frown on Hermione,

"Draco, could you go get your father and Pandora? Maybe they would know more about this." Draco called a house-elf immediately to get the two adults in the house, considering Sirius was dealing with Head of House things and Bellatrix had gone to Saint Mungo's to reverse the curse on the Longbottoms.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Pandora rushed into the Dueling Room with Lucius hot on her heels. Her eyes were wide and panicked as she all but fell to her knees next to Harry and Hermione.

"Hermione, love I need you to look at me. I need you to tell me what's going on."

"Mum... I can barely control my magic, Harry's helping, but not much. Is it because Daphne doesn't want to be my Anchor anymore?" Pandora gasped softly,

"Hermione, please tell me she didn't actually say that. Please..." Pandora's eyes began to well with tears,

"No... she said she couldn't be my anchor anymore." Hermione grumbled despondently into Harry's chest without looking up at her mother.

"Bloody buggering fuck! Shite, this is bad. Really bad... Really, really bad." Pandora hissed, running a hand through her wild curls, which were steadily getting even wilder with the stress that just got dumped on her shoulders.

"What? Why is that so bad." Draco asked, his eyes flickering between his despondent sister and his now adoptive mother,

"The Magical Anchor Bond is naturally a sort of Soul Bond, as extremely Dark and heinous magic was used to create the curse that's on all of the Black women. By saying that she can't be Hermione's Anchor, she is rejecting the fledgling Soul Bond between them, now it's not too late to repair it, but Daphne has to be willing to repair it, she has to be willing to be Hermione's Magical Anchor, otherwise we won't have a choice but to marry our sixteen year-old daughter off to someone so A; her magic doesn't go completely hay-wire, and B; Her soul doesn't wind up shattered irreparably. Something like this could wind up leaving her nothing but a soul-less husk, similar to what happens when someone is kissed by a Dementor." Everyone in the room was staring at Pandora in shock, everyone but Hermione, who was still snuggled into Harry's chest.

"Daphne couldn't have known. She never would have done something like this on purpose, she can be an ice-cold bitch but this is even more frigid than I could ever expect Daphne to be." Draco growled, Pandora shook her head slowly,

"There's n way for her to have _not_ known... The consequences of a broken Anchor Bond were detailed in every book I gave her." A shiver of dread went down everyone's spine as those words were spit out from between Pandora's gritted teeth.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The cloaked figure stood at the edge of the Greengrass wards, watching as the eldest Greengrass child played outside with her younger sister, their Imperius curse had obviously worked as she had been home for that past few hours and the house elf they had on the inside had reported that the mudblood was steadily getting worse the longer the Greengrass Heiress was gone

" _That should take care of the mudblood bitch."_ The added compulsion charm to keep the blonde away from Hermione should last until the Black Heiress was nothing but a soulless husk. Satisfied that their work was done the figure Apparated away, a cold smile on their lips.

 _ **Post A/N: You didn't think it was going to stay happy, did you? Also, in the month long break I took before writing this I have decided that it will most likely wind up being a HG/DG. Also, I know... you all hate me and I need to throw myself into a pit of fire. I love you guys too. So long for now!**_


	19. Chapter 19

_**A/N: Sorry about the wait guys! Life's been hectic lately. New post, new schedule, new sleeping schedule, and I'm both running and playing in a 3.5 edition D &D game so yay! So much stuff to deal with, not enough time in the day... Now last time we left we had found out that Daphne was being Imperiused by an unknown figure, I'm honestly shocked no one has figured out who it is yet. We also haven't heard from our trapped friend, some of you have figured out who that is and it's great. We'll be hearing from them again today. Now sit back and enjoy Chapter Nineteen**_

 _ **Heiress of the Stars**_

 _ **Chapter Nineteen:**_

"What do you mean she refuses to speak with her? Hermione needs to talk to Daphne, Gerald! It's literally a matter of life and death!" Draco had never seen his father so angry, then again, he had just found out about Hermione being his daughter, and he was incredibly protective of the people he loved. Draco shuddered slightly as he thought about his half-sister. She was laid up in her bedroom, shaking and sweaty from trying to keep her magic under control. Potter's presence was only helping so much, it helped her keep her emotions in check, but her magic was starting to become less dependent on her emotions to get out of control, and it had only been two days. The adults in the Manor had erected War Wards around Hermione's room to keep her from damaging the structure of the rest of the house.

"I know Lucius, but I can't get Daphne to see reason right now. You're going to have to find some way to stabilize Hermione until I can get it through her think skull that this isn't a sure thing. My brother's second wife was a Black, and her Anchor wasn't a relative, obviously they didn't marry. I just need some time." Lucius pinched the bridge of his nose,

"We don't have time, Gerald. She's getting worse by the hour. We have bloody War Wards around her room because anytime her magic lashed out, she was causing an earthquake. The Anchor Bond is a Soul Bond, there's no way to remove it, hell there's no way to transfer it except through marriage. And I'm not marrying my sixteen-year-old daughter off to anyone unless it's completely necessary." Lucius snarled into the fireplace, his silvery grey eyes blazing with rage.

"I'll try again Lucius, but that's all I can promise at this point in time. Daphne's being... stubborn about this. Which I don't understand. She embraced this after the books were given to her, and then she came back from the Alley one day and was acting odd about it." Lucius' eyes narrowed slightly,

"Let me know how it goes Gerald. We're getting desperate here." He ended the call by pulling his head out of the fire, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Father?" Lucius looked up at his son and sighed, the worry etched onto the sixteen-year-old's face was very unbecoming of a Slytherin, but as they were in the privacy of their own home, he wasn't going to comment on it.

"Yes Draco?"

"Is... is Daphne going to come back?"

"I don't know Draco... Gerald is going to try to do his best to convince her. It's her sudden change of heart that's bothering me. I need to talk to Pandora about it. Go, sit with your sister, it may help some." Draco nodded slowly and walked away, leaving the older blonde to ponder over what Gerald had said, and the observations he had made of the Greengrass Heiress' behavior."

"Toby." The elf popped in near silently and looked up at his Master,

"What can Toby be doings for Master Lucius?"

"Tell Pandora I need to speak with her about the Greengrass girl." Toby's eyes went wide, he couldn't believe his master would mention the girl in front of the Mistress.

"Of course, Master Lucius. Toby will be doings this rights away sir." He popped away and reappeared at Pandora's side.

"Mistress Black, Master Lucius wants to be speaking withs you about She-who-will-not-be-named." A harsh glint flared in Pandora's eyes; the elves had taken to calling Daphne "she-who-will-not-be-named" in an effort to lessen the angry outbursts that she had been having.

"Thank you, Toby. Where is he?"

"Hes being in the Floo Room, Mistress." She nodded and stood from where she had been pouring over some old tomes that had been in the Black family library. She stretched briefly before leaving the library and heading to the Floo Room, technically it was the Manor's Parlor, but no one used it for anything but to floo in and out, they had a larger Parlor to entertain guests in.

"You wanted to talk to me about Greengrass?" She hissed the name as she sat down gracefully next to her fiancé.

"Yes. I know the topic of the girl is quite vexing for you at the moment, but I need you to put aside your anger for just a moment and examine her actions up to the point of three days ago. Did she seem reluctant about any of this?" Pandora frowned slightly, and gave Lucius a narrow-eyed glare, "Think about it, Pia. I think there's something more than just teenage stubbornness going on here, something darker." Pandora sat back in her seat, closing her eyes so she could focus better. Daphne had actually been rather accommodating when it came to the Anchor Bond, staying at Hermione's side, helping her get her magic under control when it seemed to get away from her tight grasp. Even after she had been given the books, she hadn't shied away from Hermione, if anything, they seemed to have grown even closer, and then she had gone to Diagon Alley a little less than a week ago to get some potion ingredients. After she had returned, she had steadily started pulling away, until two days ago when she had up and left, telling Hermione that she refused to allow the Bond to make her romantic decisions for her, despite the fact that every book had specifically said that while the Bond strengthened the couple's emotions towards each other, it did not force them into any sort of relationship.

She sat like that for fifteen minutes, her brain going a mile a minute before the lightbulb went off over her head, and it hit her like a lightning bolt causing her to sit up suddenly, her eyes snapping wide open.

"She's been compelled!" Lucius nodded slightly,

"I think so as well, but the compulsion should be wearing off by now, so why is she still refusing to see Hermione, unless something else has been done. A potion would last longer..." Pandora's eyes narrowed slightly,

"Who do we know of that would want to hurt Hermione? Hermione specifically."

"Any one who has anything against either of our families. Which is a long list of people that are still walking about."

"That Weasley boy, but he's too dumb to even think about something like this." Pandora sighed and sat back in her seat again, "Why compel Daphne? Why not just go after Hermione specifically? Or Draco, that would hurt both of our families as well. This is someone who has something against us. Not just our families, and someone who knows about the family curse. Which we can't say how many people know about it because Narcissa-" She stopped talking and her eyes darkened to pitch black as a furious rage ripped through her.

"Pia?"

"I'm going to kill her. Slowly, painfully... I might even drag it out for years if I can."

"Pandora, who are you talking about?" Lucius' eyes were wide with shock, a perhaps a little fear, though he would never admit to that.

"Narcissa Black."

 _ **-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-**_

The haggard man pressed a palm to the window-like glass plane that took up most of one of his walls, he was running out of food, and his water wasn't going to last much longer, his wand had been missing when he was first transported here, and there was no way he could cast a patronus without it, not that he would waste the energy on something that might not even work, so far his wandless blasting spells hadn't done anything to the glass or any of the walls in the room.

"I wonder how Sirius and Pandora are... They probably think I'm dead by now, hell I don't even know if they survived the war... I might be the last of the Main Branch of the Black family." He sighed and sat with his back to the window, closing his eyes as memories of happier days with his older siblings tortured him with uncertainty. "Please let them still be alive... I don't think anyone else can get me out of here..." He all but whimpered, brushing his way to long hair from his face. _I can see it now, someone many years from now will find this, whatever it is, and no one will know that the corpse inside is the last of the Black family, Regulus Arcturus Black..._ He thought, unable to voice the thoughts aloud for fear of cursing himself to the doomed fate that haunted his nightmares.

 _ **A/N: So**_


	20. Chapter 20

**_A/N: So... life has both been absolutely wonderful and bloody hellacious at the same time these past few weeks and I'm so sorry I haven't been updating regularly. I've had a bug up my ass on a Lord of the Rings story lately so I've been working on that. It hasn't been posted yet because I don't have a title for it yet. I got married, I started writing a book and that's about it._**

 ** _Recap:_**

" _Please let them still be alive... I don't think anyone else can get me out of here..." He all but whimpered, brushing his way to long hair from his face. I can see it now, someone many years from now will find this, whatever it is, and no one will know that the corpse inside is the last of the Black family, Regulus Arcturus Black... He thought, unable to voice the thoughts aloud for fear of cursing himself to the doomed fate that haunted his nightmares._

 ** _Chapter Twenty:_**

Daphne glared at her father as he sat her down for the fifth time since she had left the Malfoy Manor three days ago,

"I'm not going back. I won't let a stupid Soul Bond dictate my life just because some uppity mudblood who thinks she's worth something-"

"Enough Miss Greengrass." The whip-like voice of Lucius Malfoy cracked through the air around them, silencing the tirade she had been getting ready to start. Her seafoam green eyes found the blond, and then the seething dark-haired woman at his side. Her eyes were the color of storming skies as she fought to keep herself under control after Daphne's outburst.

"What are _you_ doing here? Come to force me back to your daughter's side? I won't do it." The young blonde snapped waspishly, earning her a sharp glare from her father. Her eyes widened as Pandora's wand appeared in her hand, "Dad-"

" _Finite!"_ The spell was hissed with such vehemence that it slammed Daphne back into her chair and knocked her out.

"Pandora!"

"What? You surely didn't expect me to stand here and listen to the vile propaganda that your dear ex-wife put into her head? Mudblood... She called our daughter a mudblood!" She threw her hands up after holstering her wand in the sleeve of her robes. She spun and walked from the room, her hair a wild tangle of inky curls down her back.

"I can't say I envy you Lucius. Dealing with so many Black women must be difficult." The blond frowned at his friend before turning his eyes to the unconscious witch in the room,

"It will be less so when your daughter is back at Hermione's side. We've yet to tell any of the children that Daphne was put under the imperious curse. With the stunt they all pulled in the DoM, I wouldn't put it past the Potter boy to go after Narcissa, which could be a death sentence for him, and Draco, who has become very fond of his sister in these past few weeks." Gerald hummed softly in thought,

"I think it would be a death sentence for your ex-wife if even half-of what I've heard about the Potter boy is true." Shrewd blue eyes fell on the Malfoy Patriarch, "You seem to have turned over a new leaf Lord Malfoy. Perhaps you've seen the error of your ways and intend to stay neutral in the up coming war?" Lucius frowned and stood up to his full height,

"You know as well as I do Lord Greengrass that turning my back on that half-blood scum made me his enemy. Pandora intends to remain at her, our, daughter's side through this war, and I can't see Hermione anywhere other than Potter's side. Whether or not they survive is now up to us. It's time she and I teach them that to win a war you have to be willing to fight dirty. Dumbledore's forgiveness tripe isn't going to fly this time, not when it's my children and their friends the curses will be flying at. I hope to see you taking a more active roll in the war this time, what with your daughter being on whatever side Hermione happens to be on." He paused and flicked his wand at the unconscious witch, "Do send her over when her head has cleared, Hermione is getting worse." With that said he walked back out of the room and followed his still upset betrothed through the floo.

They were bombarded by three very worried young wizards when they came through,

"Enough!" Pandora shouted, sparks crackling through her hair, "The curse has been lifted from Daphne and I expect she will be returning to the manor within the next few hours. Do remember that any harm she caused Hermione is not of her own doing and that she will probably be extremely distraught. Lucius, I need to go visit my brother. There are a few things that need to be taken care of." Pandora spun and went back through the floo, leaving her fiance with the three teens.

 ** _Grimlaud Place_**

Sirius blinked as the floo activated and his older sister stepped out, looking worse for wear.

"Dora? How's Hermione?" the tired smile that graced his sister's lips cause his heartbeat to speed up in excitement,

"Daphne was imperiused by our dearest cousin Narcissa. The curse has been canceled and I suspect that Daphne will be back at the Manor as soon as her father allows. However, that news is not the only reason I'm here. I need the main tapestry. I can only undo my spellwork if it hasn't been affected."

"That is the main tapestry isn't it?" At Pandora's shake of the head he sat back in his chair and frowned, "Where is it then?"

"It should be in the attic, I thought you knew that this wasn't the main tapestry." Sirius shook his head slightly as he stood and made his way up the stairs and flicked his wand at the door for the attic. The ladder slid down and thumped on the floor gently,

"After you sister dearest." She rolled her eyes and made her way up the steps while her brother held the ladder. She came down a few minutes later with a rolled-up piece of fabric,

"Got it, come on. I need to make sure my spell didn't affect this one, otherwise I won't be able to reverse it."

"What's the difference between that one and the ones in the Black houses?"

"Magic shouldn't affect this one, which means it should still show myself and Hermione. All of the other ones are linked to the one in the office and show whatever that one shows. Father had it done that way due to mother's temper. You and Andy were never expelled from the family, at least not that I know of." She explained as she rolled it out on the floor of the office. It was large, about the size of an area rug, but it still held the whole family tree. "See, it still shows us." She cut open her hand to undo her spell and froze, looking between the two tapestries.

"What is it Dora?" Her eyes were wide and tears trekked silently down her cheeks as she continued to look between the two. Quickly she smeared her blood over her portrait and Regulus'

" _Finite Incantatum."_ Both death dates disappeared and Hermione's portrait, birthdate, and birth name appeared beneath Pandora's, "Sirius... Reg is alive..." She choked, a sob bubbling in her throat even as her younger brother collapsed to his knees.

"Kreacher!" He shouted; his voice raspy with unshed tears.

"What can Kreacher be doing for you Master?"

"Where is my brother? Where is Regulus Black?" Kreacher's eyes went wide as he looked at the tapestry, and then at his Master and Mistress, both of whom were staring at him with tear filled eyes.

"Kreacher never thought Master or Mistress would find out. Kreacher was ordered to not go get Master without being asked. Kreacher be going to get Master Regulus now." The elf disappeared with a loud crack and both siblings looked at each other and waited.

They didn't have to wait long before the elf popped back, with a sorry looking man in tow.

"Reg?" Regulus collapsed in relief as both of his older siblings suddenly engulfed him in a strong hug.

 ** _Post A/N: YAY Regulus is free! Maybe he can save Narcissa, maybe she's too far gone. Stay tuned to find out._**

 ** _Edit 1/27/2020: I'm so sorry that I haven't updated this story in forever. Life has been really hectic, and hasn't given me much time to write or update as often as I have wanted. On the bright side, my husband is pushing me to start writing again, on the downside, for the time being all my stories, at least those started before today, are going to be on hold. With the extremely long hiatus I took I've lost all interest in the stories. I have tried writing more chapters with pen and paper, but my muse for the three of my current stories has all but disappeared. One more upside is that I've decided to try to completely rewrite the story that was originally titled Harry Potter and the Lady of Blue Fire, however I'm not quite sure when the prologue/first chapter will be out. Please be patient and cut me a little slack as I try to get back into the swing of things. Thanks guys, I hope you all have a good new year, and hopefully you'll be hearing from me again soon. With luck, trying to rewrite HPatLoBF will give me a few ideas, at least for Heiress._**


	21. Chapter 21

_**A/N: So, I had completely forgotten that I had started chapter twenty-one many, many months ago. Shortly after finding out that I was pregnant. I just opened it up a few days ago and managed to find enough of my muse for this story to continue what had already been written. I'm currently sitting in my bathtub as I type this because my husband is snoring quite loudly in our bedroom and it is very distracting. And so, without further ado, Chapter Twenty-One.**_

 _ **Chapter Twenty-one:**_

While it was a happy reunion for the three Black siblings, elsewhere in Britain there was a young Heiress in a complete meltdown.

"Daphne you must calm down before you magically exhaust yourself!" Gerald Greengrass had been left alone with his fifteen-year-old daughter after the Malfoy patriarch had left to tend to his fiancé. He had dwelled on the blonde's words for a few moments, wondering if it was truly time for the Greengrass' to step away from their usual neutrality.

"But Daddy, how could I do that to Mi? I've read what the Soul Bond does, why couldn't I fight the curse? Potter throws it off like a duck sheds water!" her magical aura flared violently with her upset.

"Harry Potter is a very powerful young wizard in his own right, you cannot compare yourself to him Daphne." Gerald shot back, his brows raising nearly to his hair line. His tone brooked no argument as his daughter deflated, her magic refeeding just as quickly as it flared. "Now, perhaps instead of standing here and berating yourself for something you couldn't control you should Floo over to Malfoy Manor and put a certain Black Heiress out of her misery?" he tilted his head towards the fireplace, making sure his daughter knew that it had been more of an order than a suggestion. His eldest was off like a shot, leaving the Greengrass Lord alone in his home.

Gerald sighed heavily and all but collapsed into the nearest chair, running a hand through his hair. Things were changing much faster than he had anticipated, and he wasn't sure what to do, or even how to react.

"Gerald? Darling?" his wife's voice broke him from his thoughts as she stepped through the floo, sans their youngest daughter, and quickly spelled the soot off of her robes. "What has you so thoughtful?"

"Lucius and Pandora were here earlier to remove the Imperius curse from Daphne. Lucius said a few things that have really got my mind in a whirl." Celine raised a slender brow and took the seat across from her husband,

"Alright, out with it. What are you thinking about?" Gerald sighed and sat up so he could look at his wife.

"Lucius kindly pointed out that with the particular relationship between our daughters that perhaps it was time that the Greengrasses pick a side in this war. He believes that we've remained neutral for as long as we can, and with what happened after I revived Daphne, I'm inclined to believe him." Celine couldn't help but laugh for a moment before she noticed how serious her husband was,

"Lucius Malfoy was talking to you about picking a side? What does he think you'll bend your knee to that insane megalomaniac? Why I-"

"Celine." Gerald cut her off with a stern look, "Lucius seems to have turned over a new leaf since the Lady Black came back into his life. Pandora was always a good influence on him, but even she fell to the pressure her mother put on her when it came to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I don't know what happened over the past sixteen years while she was thought dead but she was rather incensed that Daphne called her daughter a Mudblood." That earned another laugh from Celine, who had been at the wrong end of the former Slytherin princess's wand before. While being a half-blood made the insult null and void, the eldest Black sister had often called her a half-breed.

"Must have been something rather drastic if she's getting upset over the use of that word. She used to throw it around like it was confetti at Hogwarts." Celine and Gerald continued to talk for a while before reaching the same decision; they would speak to their daughters before deciding whether or not they would step away from their carefully guarded neutrality and into the Light.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Pandora clutched her baby brothers to her tightly, her entire body shaking with sobs of joy.

"Regulus, what happened? The tapestry said you were dead."

"Mother installed a failsafe after I joined the Death Eaters because she knew I was a spy. Should I ever be in mortal peril a portkey that I kept on myself at all times would activate and take me to a safe location. Only Kreacher would be able to get me out, but only if asked by someone related to me by my mother's blood. You two, or mother herself. But she had died shortly before I made my way to that damnable cave. I wasn't even sure until I woke up that it would work. Mother added a ward buster to the portkey so it could get me out of just about anywhere save Hogwarts." He rasped out, pausing when Pandora handed him a glass of water to drink, "Pandora, you were supposedly dead by the time I was trapped in there. Not that I believed it for one second, and Sirius hadn't spoken a word to me since he left to live with Potter." Pandora huffed, tonight would be very long, as both she and Sirius had stories to tell. The two elder siblings glanced at each other, trying to decide which of them should go first.

"Reg, there's a lot that has happened in the past sixteen years... you're more out of the loop than even Sirius and that's saying something considering he spent twelve years in Azkaban." Regulus' jaw dropped, but Pandora just held up a dainty hand, "Just, let us tell the stories, then you can ask your questions." He nodded and Pandora launched into her tale.

Regulus was delighted to find out that he had a niece, though not fond of Lucius. His outrage at her enslavement to Voldemort nearly topped Lucius' as well, though his rage at the fact that she had been looked away in a Muggle Zoo for almost six years, and while he had already been on the side of the Light he was firmly in Harry's corner after hearing about his freeing her, even if it had been on accident. Regulus just sighed heavily when Narcissa's predicament was explained, knowing that at this point in time she was too far gone to bring back. The Black family curse had taken hold over her and unless a way to break the curse entirely was found then there would be no saving her.

Regulus actually cried when Sirius started telling his own story, which was expected as the brothers had always been closer to each other than to Pandora. He was ready to go tear Dumbledore apart when he was told that the old wizard had allowed Sirius to rot in a cell, most likely to keep Harry complacent and ignorant of his place in the Wizarding world, not only as the Chosen One, but as the Heir of the Potter Lordship.

"The old coot has gone completely nuts!" The youngest of the three exploded suddenly, his grey eyes feverish with anger "Harry Potter should have been placed with a Light or Neutral family that has ties into the nobility that way he wouldn't reach his majority completely ignorant of his place in our world." Pandora sighed softly, her own storm grey eyes cast down at her hands,

"I don't believe he intends for Mister Potter to reach his majority. Sirius and I did some digging into cursed scars and Dark magic, and we believe that Dumbledore believes that Harry's scar is a Horcrux. We know the sick bastard made them, he tried to turn me into one while I was stuck in my Animagus form, but the magic rejected a living host, I think... It could be that he's split his soul too many times that he wasn't able to do so again, either way we need to figure out if Harry's scar is in fact a Horcrux or something else all together. Especially since Voldemort knows about the link between them." Her brothers nodded vigorously, Sirius would do anything for his godson, and Regulus wanted to be free of the bastard that had branded him a slave. "In the mean time we need to start training the boy for war. He got lucky in the Graveyard during his forth year with the connection between their wands, but Voldemort is an accomplished duelist, and has no qualms about going for the kill. Harry's favorite spell is the disarming charm..." she trailed off when Sirius tried to object, merely raising a slender brow at the younger man, who huffed and remained silent, "The boy is magically powerful, and could easily outstrip both Dumbledore and Voldemort in power should he live to reach his majority; I know you would like to keep your godson as Light as possible but this is _war_ Sirius and he's going to need more than a few charms and jinxes to get him through."

"I know. It's just hard trying to convince myself to do this; it's not what James and Lily would have wanted for Harry." Pandora leveled a glare at her brother,

"Sirius, if Lily and James Potter loved their son even half as much as I love Hermione, then they wouldn't give a flying fuck what had to be done to keep Harry alive." both brothers struggled to match the fiercely protective woman sitting with them to the flighty and sometimes downright ditzy older sister they had known growing up. Regulus knew that much of it was an act, he had seen the way she and Lucius plotted when in school together, but Sirius had never gotten to see the truly Slytherin side of her before he ran away and she "died".

"Now, I need to go check on my daughter. I'm sure Miss Greengrass has managed to make her way to the Manor and I must ensure that neither of them are trying to blame themselves for Narcissa's interference with their bond." She stood and swept from the room towards the parlor that held the fireplace.

 _ **Post A/N: So, this chapter isn't the longest, and the end was starting to feel a bit forced so I cut it off at the best time I could. Please bare with me; I am just now getting back into the swing of things and it will take me some time to get back to my full capacity. With love, Scorched.**_


End file.
